I received some very sad news yesterday about a long-time friend and collaborator, Reason Lahalla.
Sadly, last week, he passed away in hospital. He was only 33.
Reason was one of the first people I made friends with on KVR. He dug my music and I enjoyed his acerbic wit. He pulled no punches, but was an extremely friendly, generous and helpful guy. When I first ventured into the world of sampling with my first sample pack, he offered to host it on his Team DNR site. In turn, I wrote some demo tracks for a sample collection he was doing. And thus, a friendship was born.
We swapped emails intermittently and helped each other on projects. Gave each other advice, swapped samples and sounds, or just talked rubbish about the weather – Reason always seemed to be shovelling snow from the driveway!
Contact with Reason was a little sparse when he was trying to sort himself out. He had a few trips to rehab and hospital, but always came back positive and fighting, and full of ideas.
That all those ideas are now gone with him is terribly sad. Whatever his demons were, it was obvious to me he had much more to give and that he wanted to give it to. That was his generous personality. Sometimes he was too honest, perhaps. But I came to trust him and value his friendship.
I’m extremely sad he’s gone. Far too soon. Rest in piece, Reason.
Thank you Matt, for taking the time to write this goodbye. He was very fond of all those whom he met and worked with through DNR and he loved each one of you as family. I wish there was more time in life to take account of each moment properly before a sudden end such as this.
Steven