R.I.P. David Novan one of my closest friends

Rabs

Man I cant believe it still..

My father died from cancer less than three months ago..  But then just over a week a go one of my closest and oldest friends and musical partner David Novan passed away (30th December).

He was only 43 years old. We have been friends since we were about 18 and he was the drummer in my first serious band. He was one of the smartest people I knew and had a literal encyclopaedic knowledge of music.. A vegan since he was 7 years old and that's not an easy thing let me tell you.. It was one of the things I respected most about him that no matter how difficult it was he always did what he thought was right. ALWAYS... He was a funny genuine kind and true person who was amazing with people and loved by all who knew him.

He was also my main gig partner... I cant even begin to list the hundreds of gigs we went to over the years. His taste in music was more varied that probably anyone else I know. He really loved AOR/Prog rock and we saw all the greats together like Asia, Toto, Yes, Deep Purple, Supertramp, you name it, we seen it . He was also a true musician and artist. He only ever wanted to play music and be recognised for that and indeed he spent almost ten years at university studying music. While he was up there (in Manchester) he at one point was in three bands at once. Drumming for one, and playing various instruments in another and the third band was his band where he sung and played guitar and played mostly his own music.

This is where the story gets a bit sadder. Like a lot of creative people he suffered really badly from anxiety and depression and every time he started getting somewhere with building up his music career something would happen with his health to stop it and he would regress. Hide from the world, even from me sometimes. The last time this happened was a few years back where his girlfriend split with him.. He was totally devastated. His response in the end though this time was to turn back to his music. I spent over a year going to open mic nights with him every single week (sometimes twice a week). During this time he wrote and recorded new music, played festivals, played in other countries and even played the Cavern Club for which he was invited. Throughout this time he was still battling what we thought was depression. He wasn't sleeping properly, didn't want to eat and was taking medication and was going to counselling but wasn't getting better..

This is where it gets really bad. In August his mother passed away from a long battle with cancer. About a month later his father was diagnosed with cancer (hes still alive) then a short while after that David was taken to hospital with stomach pains. He was then diagnosed with cancer.. And it was all over his body. Kidneys, liver, bowel and lungs. So what we thought was depression I now think was signs of cancer but we never knew till it was too late. He went in to hospital and it got so bad so quickly never came out   

He was more like a brother to me than just a friend and I will miss him for the rest of my life. Rest in peace David, I hope you are up there jamming with Hendrix and Zappa (he loved Zappa)... A true bright light has gone from this world way too soon.

This is David at some of his open mic nights.

https://i.imgur.com/lbNFJIp.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2ydEtMc.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/cQCFTH1.jpg

This is a cool shot.. On one of the open mic nights there was this random guy who was so impressed with Davids performance that he insisted on getting a picture with him

https://i.imgur.com/dpiBSS7.jpg

And in full rock mode with his own band

https://i.imgur.com/t2bR89K.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HmXz8zw.jpg

Lastly..  This was one of the last tracks he fully finished and I used for my last two guitar videos. Its about the split with his girlfriend, his depression that caused it and his hopes for the future.. I only have it in this format but I think its really good and deserves to be heard. He was working on doing a demo CD and trying to get this and other work published but now never will. 

mart

Ouch. Sounds like an inspirational man, and a great loss.

munckee

Sorry to hear about that Rabs he clearly meant a great deal to you.

guitarfishbay

Thanks for sharing this.  Sorry to hear about David.

Rabs

munckee said:

Sorry to hear about that Rabs he clearly meant a great deal to you.

Thank you both..

And yes very much so..  I now have a huge hole in my life..

I also found out recently how many people he helped. He was quite a prolific Facebook poster.. He would talk about his mental health problems and apparently has helped maybe hundreds of people over the last few years by talking through issues and being positive and open and giving his time to help each individual. Ive seen messages from so many people who never even met him but have so much love for him..  

Its crazy...  I just cant take it in properly. Especially from a man who was a vegan and didn't drink, smoke or do drugs and generally kept himself fit...

merlin

  Sorry to hear this @Rabs. Stay strong and remember all the good times and much you shared with him.  

RMJ

Very sad. Sorry for your loss.

Rabs

merlin said:

  Sorry to hear this @Rabs. Stay strong and remember all the good times and much you shared with him.  

Thanks...  And yes I am trying.. Luckily I have so many good memories theres a lot to choose from..

This is when we went to the Hype Park gig in 2014 (and what a great gig that was), pulling rock faces as it was a day of awesome rock.. Motorhead, Faith no More, Soundgarden topped off with Black Sabbath on a beautiful English summer day.

https://i.imgur.com/hOluch6.jpg

And us with our friend Paul pulling suitable odd faces as we were at the Monty Python gig 

https://i.imgur.com/7xNrUD6.jpg

Something else if you will indulge me..

David had quite a quirky sense of humour too. The girl that he split with that I talked about. She is German and David was beside himself when that happened and was looking for ways to get her attention. One of the things he did was create a song for her, but its not a love song or anything normal like that. Instead he told me about some German kids TV show which she loved and the main character sung this stupid little song..  So he took that song and made it in to a full punk/rock version AND did all the lyrics in German (and no he doesn't actually speak or understand German)..  He was going to do a video at some point and publish it himself but never got to do it.. So I did it for him.

This is the original

And this is his version

Also.. We had been discussing me making him a guitar that he could use at open mic nights.. I was busy looking after my parents since like last March so never got to start making it. So when I get back to work its the first thing I am going to do in his memory.. Its going to be semi hollow and have piezo bridge so he could use it at open mic nights and to record with or whatever.  Its going to look something like this..  Im thinking about auctioning it for a charity he liked or something.

https://i.imgur.com/a7XuVHr.jpg

jellyroll

A warm and fitting tribute to somebody that sounds like a great guy. Wishing you and your family good health.

AlexC

This is a very touching post written with genuine feeling. Your affection, friendship and admiration for him really comes through. So sad. Stay strong and always remember him well - which I know you will.

nocasternoproblem

Great tribute, and some great photos of someone clearly in love with music!  Hurts now, but you'll always have these great memories.  

Rabs

Thank you both and everyone kind enough to respond..  It really does help sharing his story and he deserves it..  I know theres not really much people can say in these situations but I appreciate it all the same.

Rabs

nocasternoproblem said:

Great tribute, and some great photos of someone clearly in love with music!  Hurts now, but you'll always have these great memories.  

Thank you and yes.. Music was his life... Its all he did and ever wanted to do despite the lack of financial reward. He was smart enough that he could probably have turned his mind to anything. I had suggested to him that he should try and sell his music, maybe write for other people as he had the talent. And that's what he was working on before it all got bad. So sad...

lasermonkey

A very moving tribute. My heartfelt condolences and best wishes.

Moe_Zambeek

Condolences, Rabs. Although it’s tragic, I also see great value in having had that kind of friendship, even if it was shorter than it might have been. 

axisus

So sorry to hear about that, a very touching write up about your friend. Great to see the pictures as well. 

Rabs

Thank you both..

Yeah, I will treasure my memories of him always.. Im glad I have all those photos.. At the moment its still hard to look at but I know it will get easier in time.

Its the only time I my life I regret not being on Facebook. Im on there as a business but not personally so we weren't FB friends as such.. When his family posted about his passing they made it a private post..  Apparently theres over 1000 comments and a lot of them saying how much David gave his time to help each person who he talked to about mental health issues.

I did post stuff about him on my business page because I wanted to..  After all its his guitar that I am making next and have had comments from people who knew David and been checking their pages to see if they wrote anything.. I found this one very touching from someone who only ever met him a couple of times. She says it much better than I can.

Gypsy Julene Carty

31 December 2018 at 14:57 ·

I heard David was laid to rest today. I was talking to our friend about how amazing it was how he brought everyone together. When people get together for him I can envision it, everyone from all walks of life coming together. I can see, and have already seen, enemies laying down swords and coming together for him. He gave everyone his time, he invested in people, in a way I'd never be able to have to emotional energy to do. Every message he sent to all of us was personal and ...heartfelt and he put time and effort into everyone. I realise now, how many HUNDREDS, over a thousand, of people he invested his time in over the past few months at the least. When I say this world has lost a light, I'm not saying that to be generic. No words do him justice. He really did bring light to everyone in a way many never expected. His messages to me always filled me with a bounce that I cherished. I only met him a couple of times and from the very first time we talked I knew here's a guy i'd trust with my life if it ever came down to it.

So many communities have been rocked by his loss. My news feed is flooded with the most heartwarming tributes that I've ever seen and I know, that no matter who we are, how similar or different, we all share the same feeling - there is no way we can ever put into words what he meant to us. No words will justify it. Nothing can ever come close. The best writers have hit a blank. The most romantic hearts are shattered into speechlessness. The longest tributes are desperately trying to grasp at that one word that hasn't been invented, that has never been uttered, that say exactly what we need to say.

He'd hate all the sadness, and he would be blown away, surprised and even shocked at how many peoples hearts he's touched, as was his humble nature. We can't not be sad. We really have lost a light. And while that light will live on in our hearts, it'll burn in utter agony for a good while. Many of us have unique little stimuli that remind us of him. It's different from person to person because that's what I mean about him investing in you. He gave pieces of himself away and he seemed to have an infinite amount. We will all cherish those pieces with absolute adoration, admiration and inspiration. He'll live on in those tiny reminders, which are cruelly painful right now, and will one day be a merciful comfort.

But no matter what I say. It'll never do him justice.

I LOVE you, David. I LOVE all of you.

Rabs

If anyone fancies having a look.  I have now made a video of Davids song BBBBBB and its footage of David in action at a lot of those open mic nights that we went to.

I hope it does him justice..  Still cant quite get it in my head that I wont ever see him again 

Beckyvegan40

Hi Rab I just wanted you to know that David sent me a Demo of b,b,b,b,b,b it was a thank you for helping him. Just thought I would let you know. I love your post so much.  I really miss David. He was super talented and such an amazing guy. Xx

Rabs

Beckyvegan40 said:

Hi Rab I just wanted you to know that David sent me a Demo of b,b,b,b,b,b it was a thank you for helping him. Just thought I would let you know. I love your post so much.  I really miss David. He was super talented and such an amazing guy. Xx

Hi Becky..  Thanks for the message.. I really appreciate it.

His stone setting is in just over a month..  Its still hard to believe he is gone but I wont ever forget him that's for sure.

He was talented and unique and I couldn't ask for a better friend...  If more people were like he was, we would live in a much nicer world.

xxx

jdgm

Wonderful video Rabs, you are a very talented editor. An excellent tribute.