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Nicholas Harris, the founder of the Portland guitar-pedal company Catalinbread Effects, was killed Wednesday night when his car was hit by a falling tree while driving on U.S. 26 near Seaside. He was 37 years old.
Harris founded Catalinbread in 2003, taking the name from a purposeful misspelling of the Salvador Dali painting "Catalan Bread."
According to the site Reverb.com, Harris established himself in the world of pedal manufacturing as "an uncompromising innovator whose design ethos centered on producing the most compelling and interesting sounds possible, with little concern for market trends and fads."
His products were sold in stores across the country, and have been used by Jeff Tweedy, Billy Corgan, J Mascis, Kevin Shields and Brad Paisley, among others.
On the Catalinbread Facebook page, Harris was remembered as "contentious" but "always focused on a vision that asked us to pour just as much creativity, love, and balls into it as he did." The post added that the company plans on "continuing that vision that Nicholas created just as he'd have wanted us to."
It's the third death to rattle the Portland music community this week. Dead Moon drummer Andrew Loomis of Dead Moon passed away Tuesday following a battle with cancer, while Kip Larson, a former member of Witch Mountain, Regraped and other metal-leaning groups, died last Friday of as-yet-unspecified causes.
Willamette Week