Timothy K. Calvert (November 7, 1965 – April 30, 2018) was an American

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

guitarist. He was known for his dark, moody style of songwriting created through his frequent usage of

dissonant In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive Sound, sounds. Within the Western tradition, some listeners associate consonance with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, and dissonance with harshness ...

passages and diminished chords. He was associated with the bands Forbidden and

Nevermore Nevermore was an American heavy metal band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1991. The band has been inactive since 2011, due to personal issues between the band members. In April 2015, lead singer Warrel Dane confirmed that Nevermore had n ...

. Calvert was an accomplished guitar player who played in a neoclassical style, featuring an abundance of arpeggios and sweep-picking. He started guitar lessons with Bob Marshall in Castro Valley and eventually took lessons from Jim Bedford in Hayward, California for about 10 years. He played

Jackson Guitars Jackson is a manufacturer of electric guitars and electric bass guitars that bears the name of its founder, Grover Jackson. The company was acquired by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in 2002, which manufactures Jackson-branded guita ...

throughout his entire career.

Career

He began his career in the mid-1980s in a

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band called Militia before joining Forbidden in 1989. He made his recording debut in 1990 with the band on their second album ''

Twisted into Form ''Twisted into Form'' is the second studio album by American thrash metal band Forbidden. It features one line-up change from their debut – 1988's '' Forbidden Evil'' – with Tim Calvert replacing Glen Alvelais on guitar. The result is a mor ...

'', co-writing much of the material and bringing a darker and more progressive sound than its predecessor, '' Forbidden Evil''.Metal Storm
/ref> Calvert played on two more Forbidden albums, ''

Distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signa ...

'' in 1994 and ''

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

'' in 1997. After the dissolution of Forbidden, Calvert was asked to replace

Pat O'Brien Pat O'Brien may refer to: Politicians * Pat O'Brien (Canadian politician) (born 1948), member of the Canadian House of Commons *Pat O'Brien (Irish politician) (c. 1847–1917), Irish Nationalist MP in the United Kingdom Parliament Others *Pat O'Br ...

in the

progressive thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band

. Nevermore wanted Tim as their second guitarist because lead singer

Warrel Dane Warrel Dane (born Warrel George Baker; March 7, 1961 – December 13, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead singer for the heavy metal bands Sanctuary and Nevermore. He was a natural baritone; though he was known for his high-pitched ...

and bassist

Jim Sheppard James Patrick Sheppard (born May 8, 1961) is an American musician. He was the bassist and founding member of the progressive metal band, Nevermore, and its predecessor, Sanctuary.Mustica, Giorgio.An Interview with Jeff Loomis: Cooling The Burn ...

had toured together with Calvert in the early 1990s when Dane and Sheppard played with Sanctuary and Calvert was in Forbidden. Dane stated in an interview he and Sheppard were amazed by Calvert's technique and were very happy when Tim accepted their invitation. Calvert played on and contributed to their classic concept album ''

Dreaming Neon Black ''Dreaming Neon Black'' is the third studio album released by American heavy metal band Nevermore, and was released through Century Media in 1999. Unlike its predecessor, '' The Politics of Ecstasy'', ''Dreaming Neon Black'' contains many slowe ...

'', released in 1999. Calvert left Nevermore in 2000 after the Dreaming Neon Black tour ended to pursue a full-time career as a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, attending school and working in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

initially before moving to

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...

, California for his first assignment, then

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, Utah and later

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, Minnesota. His entire professional piloting career was with SkyWest Airlines. In 2010, it was announced Calvert and a number of other prominent metal musicians were supposed to make an appearance on the first album of an AC/DC tribute band formed by Bay Area veteran vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza called AC/DZ, but the album has yet to be released.

Death

Calvert died on April 30, 2018, of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 52.

References

External links

Tim Calvert
at Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Calvert, Tim 1965 births 2018 deaths American heavy metal guitarists Forbidden (band) members Nevermore members Commercial aviators Neurological disease deaths in California Deaths from motor neuron disease People from Alameda County, California Musicians from California