3. Aaron Lazar - The Giraffes
As lead singer of New York punk/hard rock band the Giraffes tells it, there is nothing supernatural about death. There's no spiritual reckoning or bright lights, no big stroll down memory lane or angelic hymns in the distance. There is only the feeling of gross, imminent death.
"You know when you take your first hit off a cigarette? That nicotine sick you get, that nauseous, swimmy, gross feeling? It was like that - only with a tunnel vision that kept going and going and going.
That's how Aaron Lazar describes the feeling after his heart suddenly gave out on him while he was driving his car. There were no warning signs, just an immediate cardiac death. Only something like 5 percent of victims survive the out-of-nowhere attack to their ticker. Lazar counts himself lucky to be one of them, but tries not to idealize it.
I guess I used to think of death as sweet relief. You know, that whole abstract, romanticized goth idea. Now I know thats horseshit. Death is straight-up annihilation, nothing else. It is truly ceasing to exist."
The punk rocker now has an implanted cardioverter-dedibrillator in his chest, which sends a shock to his heart whenever his heart rate goes too high. It really makes his live shows something to see.