FORT COLLINS — A coroner said Monday that a heroin overdose caused the July 1 death of Johnny Schou, bassist for the pop-punk band Tickle Me Pink.
The 22-year-old Schou died the same day the band released its major-label debut album, “Madeline.”
“I didn’t think he had been using,” said bandmate Sean Kennedy, who shared a house with Schou in Fort Collins. “Johnny had a past history of drug abuse. But once we became aware of it a year ago, he got help and we helped him.”
Kennedy is the band’s singer.
Larimer County Chief Deputy Coroner Diane Fireman released a toxicology report Monday indicating the drug as the cause of death.
In the past, Schou had problems with various opiates, but not heroin, according to Kennedy, who said Schou regularly attended Narcotics Anonymous meetings and had checked himself into rehabilitation clinics.
Schou was with his bandmates the night before his death — and they said they were not aware he was using again.
“We would have known if he was on drugs,” said Kennedy, who speculated that Schou did the drugs in his room after hanging out with his bandmates.
Speaking the day after Schou’s death, drummer Stefan Rundstrom told The Denver Post emphatically: “The most obvious question: People are going to assume that, since we play in a rock band, that this was because of an alcohol or drug overdose, but I can vouch for him. It wasn’t anything like that at all.”
Kennedy said the band heard about the toxicology report after playing a gig in Albuquerque.
“We weren’t ignorant and shutting our eyes,” Kennedy said. “Our band is drug-free, and he knew that. And we believed that he was. He just slipped up.”
The weekend before Schou’s death, Tickle Me Pink played in the Vans Warped Tour at Denver’s Invesco Field at Mile High. A Tickle Me Pink video premiered on MTV2 this month, and the single, “Typical,” is catching on with radio.
“I wish it wasn’t something like (heroin), because when something like this happens, people look at the person who died as some kind of freak or something,” said Kennedy.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394; rbaca@denverpost.com
