“We feel that death is following us,” says Tony Wright of And So I Watch You From Afar

The Call’s Micheal Been died on Thursday night, and Ou Est Le Swimming Pool frontman Charles Haddon committed suicide on Friday.

Michael Been (60), frontman of The Call and father to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s bassist Robert Levon Been, died of a heart attack at the festival last Thursday night. Been had been working as a sound engineer with Black Rebel Mototcycle Club at the music festival in Hasselt, when he suffered a fatal heart attack backstage.

Belfast band And So I Watch You From Afar were also performing at the festival, and were stunned by the news. “We were only a couple of dressing rooms down from them,” said guitarist Tony Wright. “When we heard the news we were so shocked.”

Been had erupted onto the music scene in the 80s with The Call, whose passionate sound and strong political message earned them numerous hits, including ‘The Walls Came Down’, ‘I Still Believe (Great Design)’ and ‘Let The Day Begin.’

And tragedy does indeed follow tragedy as – in a bizarre and terrifying incident – Charles Haddon, singer with English synth-pop band Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, committed suicide on Friday night at the same festival.

Haddon (22) threw himself from a satellite mast shortly after his band’s set. Reports from news.com.au and Spinner claim that Haddon had been distressed after injuring a girl while stagediving during his performance. He jumped from a telecommunications mast in the backstage area of the festival shortly afterwards, and his body was found in the carpark below.

“We were going to our van in the carpark, still a bit shaken after the death the night before, when we were told that Charles Haddon had killed himself. He had fallen onto a car near ours,” Wright explains. “Having two deaths occur so close together is quite unnerving. We’re a bit shaken and are just staying togther – we do feel somewhat like death is following us. It’s been a tragic weekend.”