Australian electronic act Knife Party have confirmed that their US-based VJ Jonathan Bernbaum was one of the victims of a tragic fire at the GhostShip Warehouse party in Oakland over the weekend.
In his career as a visual artist, Bernbaum worked for many years in the EDM sector, including extensively with Rob Swire‘s Knife Party project.
Swire took to Twitter last night to confirm that Bernbaum had been working on the visual effects the night of the warehouse party, and was killed in the blaze.
“If you’ve seen a Knife Party show in the last 3/4 years, there’s a 99% chance you were watching Jon’s visuals and know how talented he was,” Swire wrote.
“Don’t know what else to say. The electronic music scene is shittier today without Jon behind the visuals.” Here’s his full series of tweets:
Some of you have probably heard by now- our good friend (and VJ for Knife Party) Jon Bernbaum was the VJ for Ghostship in Oakland on Friday.
— Rob Swire (@rob_swire) December 5, 2016
If you've seen a Knife Party show in the last 3/4 years, there’s a 99% chance you were watching Jon's visuals and know how talented he was.
— Rob Swire (@rob_swire) December 5, 2016
He was into film/art/noisy music and had a general fuck off attitude to his work, so we became friends pretty quickly. I’m gonna miss him.
— Rob Swire (@rob_swire) December 5, 2016
Don’t know what else to say. The electronic music scene is shittier today without Jon behind the visuals. RIP
— Rob Swire (@rob_swire) December 5, 2016
ABC News USA reported today that the death toll from the fire has now risen to 36, of which 33 bodies have been positively identified.
Fire Chief Teresa Deloach Reed this morning said that 75 per cent of the building has been searched, and Alameda County Sherriff Gregory Ahren said authorities are not expecting the death toll to rise further. The cause of the fire is not yet known, and investigators are still trying to determine whether there was any criminal liability.
A number of other artists and co-workers of Bernbaum have also since expressed their condolences on social media, which can be seen below.
Swire will perform with his former trio Pendulum for a one off show at Origin NYE 2016 in Perth this year.
My condolences to my brothers @knifepartyinc on their loss. My heart goes out to you guys and you’re in my prayers, we lost a good person
— marshmello (@marshmellomusic) December 5, 2016
R.i.p Jonathan Bernbaum, your @knifepartyinc visuals were a great piece of work, will always be remembered
— Kratex (@kratexmusic) December 5, 2016
My god I can't believe the news.I met Jon Bernbaum a few times, he was the VJ for Knife Party -was the VJ for Ghostship in Oakland on Friday
— KJ SAWKA (@KjSawka) December 5, 2016
F5 and all the thinkpieces in the world can't bring my friend & artist Jon Bernbaum back after the horrific Oakland fire took his life. RIP.
— ? ????????? ?? ???? ?????? (@elleschneider) December 5, 2016
