Rest in peace Roger Trigaux

[Steve F.]

After a long period of ill health, it is with great sadness that I must announce the death of Roger Trigaux, who Cuneiform worked with for close to 40 years!

Roger died peacefully last evening around 21:00 in Bruxelles.

A more personal remembrance from his family and friends will be forthcoming in a little while.

[neuroticdog]

Oh man

I’m so sorry to hear this. Thoughts and prayers out to his family and friends.

I can’t even find the words...he WILL be missed

Best
Michael

[Splicer]

Terrible news. Such a great artist. RIP.

[chalkpie]

Wow - RIP to a legend. So sorry to his family and all that knew him personally.

One of the craziest musical moments of my life was NF '05 when I had just played a tune on stage with the Froggs and my adrenaline was still going strong, then to immediately settle down to witness one of the best shows I have ever seen - Present. It was beyond magical and I will always remember the extreme moods, feeling, and power they displayed. Roger was a true composer with a unique vision, and I feel fortunate to know his music.

RIP Roger Trigaux.

[Zeuhlmate]

RIP

[NogbadTheBad]

Oh man that is crushing, RIP Roger.

[Mister Triscuits]

Very, very sad to hear this. I was fortunate enough to see Présent in the unlikely environs of a dingy little bar in San Mateo, CA. They were riveting.

Farewell Roger.

[Zappathustra]

RIP to a great master

[Scrotum Scissor]

A fantastic and truly visionary musician whose work will endure and make way.

There was never anything like those first two Univers Zero or Present albums.

Terrible loss. And a loss for words.

[neuroticdog]

I'm reeling from this...I can't help but think back to 1999 when Present did that ridiculously grueling cross country tour for the Certitudes album.

I was the organizer for the Chicago tour and the whole band stayed at my house..here are some memories of that occasion

We were training a large 110 pound Rottweiller and had one of those big metal dog cages in the living room. Roger proceeded to climb in the cage, lock the door and make contorted facial expressions with one arm raised as if trying to get out. I know there are photos of this somewhere, possibly Keith Macksoud has them but can't remember

I think their Chicago stop was near the end of the tour and I remember the whole band being incredibly grateful to have a house with beds and/or couches to sleep on. I wasn't living in a palace or anything but to them, it was like an air conditioned Taj Mahal where they can have proper showers etc.

We had an espresso maker and I was making Roger one and, as I was adding coffee to it I kept on asking if that was enough, and being the man of few words, he kept on uttering the word "more", and after something like 4 spoons, he just nodded that that was enough.

The day after the unbelievably fine show at Martyrs, the band was getting ready to move on to their next city and my ex baked them home made muffins and had them on a large tray at the front door for the band to help themselves. It was like 90 degrees out and the band was loading their gear and themselves (maybe like 8 or 9 people) into this terribly small piece of shit van they rented to go to the next gig somewhere east, maybe Cleveland, cant remember. Anyway, Roger was the last to leave and he was wearing this long black leather duster of sorts (keep in mind it was 90 fucking degrees) that, at least when they were in Chicago, he had on ALL the time. There was like 10 muffins left on the tray and, to this day I dont know what kind of prestidigitation Roger pulled, but somehow...as he was walking out the door he managed to scoop them all up and tuck them somewhere into the recesses of that leather coat and, at the same time with his other hand, wave goodbye to us. And, like in slow motion he turned, walked down the few stairs we had, out the wrought Iron gate of the front yard, leather duster flowing in the wind and climbed into the van to continue that "great inhumane adventure".

Damm...he'll be missed!

best
Michael

[Bake 2]

The bar for creating astonishing art has been pretty high for several decades. As a result it's easy to get jaded and casually walk by some remarkable work. No attentive listener could do this w/ Triskaidekaphobie. It was a shock to the system regardless of ones prior listening experiences. This, (and several later releases) brought an uncommon level of pressure and focus to the table. Familiarity w/ FZ, Lark's Tongues, Bartok and Magma didn't provide you with a shield. The owner of a local used record store put a low sticker price on it because, "it just emptied the place". He played it for me, (because the place was empty) and it was apparent that the music didn't rely on noise or raw abrasiveness to create impact. It got inside the head and left a delicate nuanced imprint that could go much deeper than a crude assault.
Sorry Trigaux couldn't stay healthy longer, very glad to have been around when Present was active.

[Boceephus]

RIP Roger.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Trane]

Adieu Roger.

Merci pour toute ta musique.

Tu vas nous manquer.

[thedunno]

Very shocked and sad to hear this.

RIP Roger.

[boilk]

Wow, first James Mac Gaw and now this. So very sad, to hear. I feel fortunate to have seen Present a number of times live. My favourite was seeing them just after the NEARfest show in 2005. They played a small club in Montreal, Canada a few days later. It was so intimate and the atmosphere was incredible and the band was on fire that night. I can remember telling him after the show, how beautifully disturbing I found his music, and that after hearing it, I was not the same! He chuckled about that.

RIP Roger.

neil

[Paulrus]

Very, very sad to hear this. I was fortunate enough to see Présent in the unlikely environs of a dingy little bar in San Mateo, CA. They were riveting.

I was also at that show (1998). It was definitely very strange seeing a bleeding edge prog group like Present in a generic American sports bar! But the intimacy of the setting made their performance that much more spellbinding.

My enduring memory of that gig was Roger hunkered over a microphone (all that was missing was the dangling cigarette, but this was California after all) and telling us in his thickly accented and broken English, "Our music is... blues." There were many puzzled reactions, but then a sort of "Ahhh, yeeaahhh..." settled in. It was certainly my kind of blues!

RIP, Roger. Hopefully Reginald can help keep the flame alive.

[TheH]

RIP The world has lost another true progressive musician...

[Marco]

A sad week. May he rest in peace.

[spacefreak]

What!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Progatron]

R.I.P.

I will listen to his music in tribute and respect.

[Kavus Torabi]

I have a nice memory of the last time I saw Roger, which I’d like to share.
It was at the Rock In Opposition festival, I can’t remember which one, I’m afraid.
Present had played an amazing set on the Sunday night and a bunch of us were sat out in front of the main hall afterwards, having a few beers.
Steve was there, I think perhaps Aymeric and maybe Bob and Maggie too, plus some of the guys from Guapo. Keith Macsoud came out with Roger, who I think was in a wheelchair, with a blanket over his lap.
I was telling everyone about the odd phenomenon that sometimes happens when someone asks to look at your guitar and after you’ve handed it to them, the first thing they do is to hold it horizontally up to their face and look down the fretboard, presumably to check if the neck is warped. As I was explaining this, I mimed the action.
I looked over and Roger was cracking up. He had clearly experienced this too!
At this point I started saying something like “I mean, can you imagine meeting Jimmy Page and asking to see his guitar and the first thing you do is...” and again I mimed taking the guitar, holding it up and squinting down the neck. Before going into a more implausible scenario.
Each time I mimed *that* action, Roger would rock around in his chair, laughing hysterically. I loved how much joy this stupid routine was bringing but eventually had to stop for fear I’d give him a seizure!

Roger was a true one off and compositional heavyweight.

[Steve F.]

We were training a large 110 pound Rottweiller and had one of those big metal dog cages in the living room. Roger proceeded to climb in the cage, lock the door and make contorted facial expressions with one arm raised as if trying to get out. I know there are photos of this somewhere, possibly Keith Macksoud has them but can't remember

159296486_514129706273983_3646551718108416982_n.jpg

[Bake 2]

I was also at that show (1998). It was definitely very strange seeing a bleeding edge prog group like Present in a generic American sports bar! But the intimacy of the setting made their performance that much more spellbinding.

My enduring memory of that gig was Roger hunkered over a microphone (all that was missing was the dangling cigarette, but this was California after all) and telling us in his thickly accented and broken English, "Our music is... blues." There were many puzzled reactions, but then a sort of "Ahhh, yeeaahhh..." settled in. It was certainly my kind of blues!

RIP, Roger. Hopefully Reginald can help keep the flame alive.

Was also at that show and was stunned. Afterwards the clock indicated that they played at least 2.5 hours. Didn't seem like it. Could only guess that the way they used repetition had compressed/distorted the perception of time. Really thought they only played about an hour and a half or so.

[neuroticdog]

159296486_514129706273983_3646551718108416982_n.jpg

Yeah..thx Steve, seems like everyone but me had these pics.

Another memory just dawned on me too...During that tour Roger's wife Martine showed up at my house totally unexpected. Roger certainly wasn't expecting it and I remember him being floored by it.

best
Michael

[spellbound]

Rest in peace, Roger.