Former WHITE ZOMBIE Drummer 'Had A Hard Time Helping Himself'

May 25, 2013

Wisconsin State Journal has posted an obituary for former WHITE ZOMBIE and LAST CRACK drummer Phil Buerstatte, who died on May 19 at the age of 46.

Buerstatte, who suffered through years of drug addiction, treatment and prison time, died in his sleep in his Madison, Wisconsin home. The cause of his death has not yet been determined.

Wisconsin State Journal reported in 1995 that Buerstatte struggled with an addiction to crack cocaine and spent time in prison for burglaries, stealing vehicles and eluding police.

"If the window on my cell popped open tonight," Buerstatte told the paper at the time, "I wouldn't try to escape because I don't trust myself outside. If I hadn't been put away, I think I'd be dead."

After spending a few years in the mid-2000s living in Massachusetts, Buerstatte came back to Madison, where he lived for the last few years, his brother and sister said.

He had trouble finding work in recent years because of the time he spent in prison.

"He kind of bounced around," his sister, Rachel Tvedt, said. "He did a lot of work in people's homes, like a fix-it type of a person."

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