Josh Sack, February 4, 1986 — May 4, 2008

This past weekend, we lost Josh Sack. Josh was a great friend and a talented genius in all things musical. Josh lost a courageous battle with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) on Sunday and he will be deeply missed.

Over the past several years, Josh’s band, The Brakes, have become one of the premiere up-and-coming bands in music. They came onto the scene in Philadelphia back in 2001, and have since built a dedicated fan base throughout the country. The Brakes performed at South by Southwest, along with many other major music festivals, and their tunes are loved by many. In fact, we have featured a number of their songs on DoubleSpeak over the past two years.

That’s Josh the musician. Fortunately, we were all lucky to know Josh as more than that.

Many of Josh’s fans and admirers never had the chance to know him as intimately as we have. Growing up, all three of us have wonderful memories of daily trips to the Sack household to hang out with our fellow partner in crime and Josh’s older brother Bill. As soon as the day ended at Lower Merion High School, we would jump in a car and roll over to the house - indulging (usually overindulging) in delicious snacks that mama Sack would have stashed in the kitchen cabinets.

We can remember sitting on overstuffed leather couches, stomachs filled to the brim, awaiting Josh’s arrival home from school. Despite the fact that he was five years younger than us, even then we knew we were lucky to hang out with such a good kid and talent. As soon as he sat down we would each pickup one of the many different musical instruments that were customarily stashed around the room and begin an epic (or so we thought at the time) jam session. Later we might go upstairs for a round of Golden Eye, though again Josh could beat us all handily at the age of 12.

Even then Josh already showed a remarkable ability to excel at anything he put his mind to. He would put on a Dave Matthews Band CD and literally play note by note along with Dave Matthews’s guitar riffs or Carter Beauford’s drum solos. Suffice to say, that’s not an easy task for anyone.

Josh was a character – he was loud, funny and rambunctious. He had a cutting wit that you couldn’t miss and that you couldn’t help smiling at.

We mourn the loss of a friend and we celebrate the life of a truly great person. To Josh’s family – Bill, Joan and David – we are truly sorry for your loss. Josh has given many people a lot of love, a lot of great memories and probably above all, a lot of fantastic music.

He will live in us forever. He dared to follow his dreams and in doing so made us all want to do the same.

-Peter, Matthew and Josh

The Sack family has requested that donations be made in Josh’s memory to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In addition, you can get The Brakes new album, “Tale of Two Cities,” released only today on Hyena Records in stores and online.