Anthony Raneri of Bayside talks about the events of October 31st, and their plans for the future:

The worst day of my life is over. It lasted 72 hours, but it's over. I know now that everyday for the rest of my life will be a piece of cake to wake up to, I'm just glad that I get to wake up to them. On Halloween I lost my best friend, big brother, mentor and band mate. I find a lot of comfort in knowing that I had a best friend, big brother, mentor and band mate in the first place, when so many people will never know what it is like to have someone as magical as Beatz in their lives. I'm so lucky for that and so lucky that I survived this thing to tell everyone about him. Anyone that knew Beatz fell in love with him instantly. Whether you were his brother, his wife, his friend or you met him for five minutes. This letter, this week and the rest of my life is not going to be a mourning of a lost life, but a celebration of a wonderful one. He will live forever in all of our hearts and in the music he created so passionately.

On behalf of Bayside, everyone in the Bayside/Victory camp and the Holohan clan, I thank you all so much for your support through all of this. I have to thank the members of Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein and Aiden, all of their crews, everyone at Victory, our manager Nate Albert and our families and friends for everything they have done since the second this happened, to get us past the last few days. Our guitar tech Nicky Raneri, tour manager Scott Robinson, guitar player Jack O'Shea and I are all home safe. Nick is going into surgery in a couple of hours and will make a full recovery; our drum tech Dan Marino is out of surgery and we hope to get him home by the end of the week. Every one of the fans, the press and any other company or person that has gotten in touch with us has just been amazing and it's all that support that got us through this.

On November 16th, Jack and I will be flying out to St Petersburg, FL to join up with the Never Sleep Again Tour. We will be playing an acoustic set that night and every night through the end of the tour on December 11th. We loved this tour. Beatz loved this tour and this is something that we need to do for ourselves, for our band and for John Beatz, who would kick my ass if I didn't finish up what he gave his life for. After that, we will be taking the holidays off, as planned, and then getting back on the road again as a band in 2006. Aside from the next two weeks, we can not let this situation slow our band down or cancel one more show or tour. All any of us ever wanted to do was play music and make this band into something that people would know and love. That hasn't changed and we can't let it. Beatz wouldn't have it any other way.

It will take me a long time to get the horrible images from that night out of my head and it will take some time for my friends Nick and Dan to get their asses out of bed, but I will, and they will and life will move on with only the happier memories of my best friend.

Thank you all for your support. The whole Bayside camp and the Holohan family are living on it right now. Please look into the John Holohan Memorial Fund. It's not about money; it's the thought that counts. For all of us and his family to know that he made a huge impact on the world is all we have right now.

Thank You,
Anthony Raneri
& Bayside

i dont like this band at all, but i cant even begin to imagine what it must be like to go through something like that. Good luck to em.