Modest Mouse Jeremiah Green
Jeremiah Green, 2022 | Credit: Photo by Daniel Knighton/Getty Images

Modest Mouse Drummer Jeremiah Green Diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer

Jeremiah Green, a founding member and drummer for Washington-via-Portland indie rock outfit Modest Mouse, has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer – an advanced stage of illness that means the cancer has spread beyond its origin. Green’s mother, Carol Namatame, announced the diagnosis in a Facebook post on Sunday, 25th December.

“Please send healing vibes for my son, Jeremiah Green, who is battling stage 4 cancer,” Namatame wrote in a post that included a number of recent photographs of Green. “He’s is so strong and so brave and hanging in there!”

Jeremiah Green’s “prognosis is good”

Green co-founded Modest Mouse with lead vocalist and songwriter Isaac Brock and bass player Eric Judy in Issaquah, Washington, in 1992. The band caught the attention of K Records’ Calvin Johnson, who released their debut EP, Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect?, in 1994.

Brock, Green and Judy remained at the core of Modest Mouse through their first three albums, 1996’s This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, 1997’s The Lonesome Crowded West, and 2000’s The Moon & Antarctica, the latter of which was the band’s major label debut.

Green was missing for Modest Mouse’s next album, 2004’s commercial triumph Good News for People Who Love Bad News, with The Seattle Times revealing his absence was due to a nervous breakdown. Green returned to the band in 2004 and has performed alongside fellow drummers and percussionists Joe Plummer (The Shins, Cold War Kids) and Davey Brozowski on Modest Mouse’s subsequent three LPs.

Green’s friend, the Seattle radio personality Marco Collins, posted on social media about the drummer’s diagnosis. “Just found out my friend Jeremiah Green […] pulled off the band’s tour b/c he is undergoing chemo to battle Stage 4 Cancer,” Collins wrote. Despite the advanced nature of the cancer, Collins suggested Green is faring well. “His prognosis is good,” he wrote, before adding “His oncologist is a big MM fan (so he’s got that in his corner!)”

Modest Mouse wrapped up their Lonesome Crowded West 25th anniversary tour in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, 20th December. The band have no live dates scheduled until a South American Lollapalooza run in March 2023.

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