Travis Nelsen, longtime drummer in Austin indie rock group Okkervil River, has died. Okkervil River announced the news in a statement on their Instagram account on April 9. “Travis Nelsen, Okkervil River’s drummer from 2003-2010, passed away on Tuesday,” the band wrote. “He was a radiant, hilarious, charismatic, generous, passionate human being with a heart that was completely open.” Find Okkervil River’s full statement below.
Nelsen was raised in Waukesha, Wisconsin, moving to Madison in the early 1990s to attend the University of Wisconsin. After studying computer engineering for a period, he dropped out to pursue music. Nelsen played in small local groups like Quencher, and the Coolhand Band, which he formed with his brother. Nelsen eventually relocated to Austin, joining Okkervil River in 2003. His first appearance on a studio album by the group was on their 2005 LP Black Sheep Boy.
Nelsen went on to record two more full-lengths with Okkervil River (2007’s The Stage Names and 2008’s The Stand Ins), as well as a collaborative project with Okkervil River and 13th Floor Elevators mastermind Roky Erickson (2010’s True Love Cast Out All Evil). In 2015, he played drums on Bound Beggars, Chris “Dish” Standish’s LP as Admiral Academy.
In their statement, Okkervil River wrote that Nelsen’s “special power was his ability to wrap his friends in love and to hurl himself out into the world with everything he had. And he played drums like no other person on earth.” The band also wrote that Nelsen’s family “has very generously asked that in his honor you donate to Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.”