Uncle Samady introduced me to rock music in the 6th grade. I’ll never forget the day he came home from school and screamed “all day I dream about sex” in my ear. It was the first time I had ever heard of Korn. And it was the first time I had ever seen an Asian dude wear a Coal Chamber T-shirt.
I always wanted to be just like Uncle Samady. We were six years apart; he was practically my older brother. He was the ultimate badass that wasn’t scared of anything — he had no fear.
When I was in the 7th grade he got busted in his parents’ garage for smoking weed while listening to Coal Chamber’s self-titled album. Apparently the backyard neighbor was a cop that wasn’t too fond of the herbal essence and metal music. But Uncle Samady didn’t give a fuck. He was a badass.
Later that year this hillbilly neighbor kid tried to steal my uncle’s bicycle — the dude hopped on the bike and took off with it down the street. Don’t ask me how, but Uncle Samady ran like Flash Gordon in his White Zombie shirt, roundhouse kicked the shit out of this dude, and took his bike back with a smile on his face. He didn’t give a fuck. He was a badass.
Uncle Samady taught me the ropes of rock music and life. When he wanted to start a band in high school, I wanted to start a band. When he listened to Marilyn Manson, I listened to Manson. When he hacked his teacher’s computer and crashed his school’s server for two weeks with his homemade virus, I learned everything I could about trojans. He was a badass.
Samady Chea was killed in a motorcycle accident on Wednesday night outside Columbus, OH. He was 31.
Though Uncle Samady got out of the rock scene after high school, his influence is the cornerstone of my musical philosophy and the foundation in which Ryan’s Rock Show was built upon.
A couple years ago I sat down with former Coal Chamber frontman Dez Fafara. I made it a point to ask questions that I knew Uncle Samady would ask. I asked Dez about death.
“To live life with fear is the worst,” Dez explains. “Just have no fear. Fuck it.”
Samady Chea has no fear. He is a badass.