Obituary: John Ryan Garrighan / Rocker from Harrison City who started The Berlin Project at 14
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John Garrighan
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John Garrighan got an early start on the rock 'n' roll life. The singer-guitarist was only 14 when he formed The Berlin Project, and by the time he was 22, the pop-punk band had toured nationally and sold tens of thousands of albums.
On Sunday, the Harrison City native died at his home in Monroeville. He was 27. The cause of death is undetermined, pending results of toxicology tests.
Mr. Garrighan started playing music when he was 11, inspired by bands like the Ramones, The Clash and U2. In 1997, he and his friends formed The Berlin Project, a "bratty ska-punk band" that took its name from a computer hacking program.
"He started playing music very early and my ex-husband and I were very supportive," said his mother, Lucy Garrighan of Monroeville. "He was Mr. Charm, Mr. Personality."
Mr. Garrighan was at Penn-Trafford High School when the band debuted in 1998 with "Running for the Border," which featured a cover of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice" that became a viral hit through Napster.
Mr. Garrighan explained his role in The Berlin Project during a 2003 interview with the Post-Gazette:
"I like to be an entertainer. I like to be in front of people live. I think our guitar player, [Jon] Belan, he's the gifted musician who can sit down and play anything all day. And he's incredible with melodies. It gets so frustrating," he added with a laugh, "being someone who has to work so hard to be average."
"It wasn't so much that John was the most amazing musician anyone ever heard," said drummer Nick Revak, who joined the band in 1999. "He was kind of ahead of the game 'cause of his age. He was like, 'We're going to play Toledo [Ohio] with [the band] Less Than Jake,' when he was 16. It was insane how intelligent and superdriven he was at that age. When he got something in his mind, he never could stop it."
The Berlin Project's sound continued to evolve, leaning toward emo-punk for its third album, "The Transition Radio." In 2002, the band toured the East Coast, playing side stages on the Vans Warped Tour.
"John used to get up every morning at like 7 a.m. and help them put up the stage," said Mr. Revak. "They said, 'You've been helping us out so much, why don't you play some extra shows?' " They ended up following the Warped Tour all the way to Florida, where their van caught on fire one morning with them sleeping in it.
First Published February 2, 2011 12:00 am
