Brendan Mullen

Brendan Mullen (October 9, 1949 – October 12, 2009) was a Scottish nightclub owner, music promoter and writer, best known for founding the Los Angeles punk rock club The Masque. Through Mullen's support at various nightclubs in California, the scene gave birth to such bands as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Go-Go's, X, The Weirdos and the Germs.

Early life Mullen was born in Paisley, Scotland, and moved to Stockport near Manchester, England, when he was eight years old. At the time of his stroke, Mullen was celebrating his 60th birthday by traveling through Santa Barbara and Ventura with Kateri Butler, his companion of 16 years. Doctors were surprised by his stroke saying he had none of the indicators, his cholesterol was perfect. One of the neurologists who treated Mullen stated, 'Sometimes, your number is just up.' Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea wrote a two-page article for the Los Angeles Times on the passing of Mullen.

Mullen had just started working toward U.S. citizenship at the time of his death. One of his last projects, which he was unable to complete before his death, was helping the Red Hot Chili Peppers co-author their autobiography, An Oral/Visual History by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The book was published on October 19, 2010, a little over a year after Mullen's death.

In popular culture The Red Hot Chili Peppers' 2011 album, I'm With You features the song "Brendan's Death Song", a tribute to Mullen. According to Anthony Kiedis, he was told about Mullen's death on the first day of rehearsals for the album. He went to rehearsals and informed the band of Mullen's death and without talking, the band quickly started to play music and the song came to the band quickly out of a jam. Kiedis described the song as having the feel of a death march but "it's more of a celebration than a bummer." On March 7, 2012, the Chili Peppers announced that "Brendan's Death Song" would be released as the fifth single from their album although the song was rarely performed on the band's I'm with You World Tour and would film the music video for the song in New Orleans. The concept of the video is a jazz funeral.

Selected bibliography We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of LA Punk (2001) with Marc Spitz Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs (2002) coauthored with Germs drummer Don Bolles and Adam Parfrey Whores: An Oral Biography of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction (2006) Live at the Masque: Nightmare in Punk Alley (2007) with Roger Gastman, and Kristine McKenna The Red Hot Chili Peppers: An Oral/Visual History (2010) - coauthored by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mullen

Selected filmography The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) himself X: The Unheard Music (1986) himself We Jam Econo (2005) himself Punk's Not Dead (2007) himself Who Is Billy Bones? (2015) himself (archive footage)