POSSESSED Pulls Out Of Germany's WAY OF DARKNESS Festival

Reactivated California death metal pioneers POSSESSED have cancelled their appearance at the Way Of Darkness III Festival, set to take place October 2-4 in Bamberg, Germany. According to the group's drummer Emilio Marquez (who also plays in California's SADISTIC INTENT),sole remaining original member Jeff Becerra (vocals),who has been wheelchair bound for more than 18 years — ever since he was shot and paralyzed in a street robbery — is suffering from "a blood infection that started from bed scores. . . Jeff's condition has become very serious. We are all hoping for the best because Jeff's health is priority 1 for his family and his band. He could be in the hospital for another 2 to 4 months if his condition gets any better.

Emilio continued, "Jeff and the band thought he would be healthy in time for the Way Of Darkness festival knowing he would be released on September 15. Now that he had been readmitted, [it] puts POSSESSED on hold. There is no words to explain how sorry we are for informing you two weeks before the show. Honestly, we had no idea his health was this bad. Talking to the doctors who are taking care of him, they tell me and he cannot go anywhere. We even canceled UNLEASHED, OBITUARY, POSSESSED, and SADISTIC INTENT in San Francisco this Thursday, September 25."

Becerra became ill while touring in Europe in preparation for Norway's Hole In The Sky festival, which took place August 27-30 in Bergen, Norway. A pressure sore became infected on the trek, which was described as "a very ambitious tour" for a healthy person, let alone someone with a number of special needs, but Jeff felt compelled to follow the rigorous schedule. The infection spread to his bones, and soon he was unable to move. The band rushed him to a Helsinki hospital which then had him flown to Paris for medical care, but Parisian doctors did not want to deal with such a sick American and they had him flown to Los Angeles where he spent nearly 20 days in a hospital on a strong course of antibiotics.

Send your cards, letters and gifts to:

Jeff Becerra
c/o Dark Realm Records
8210 Firestone Blvd,
Downey, CA 90241

To show online love, go to www.myspace.com/repossessed2112.

Jeff and his family will be checking the site daily.

In the October 2008 issue of Guitar World magazine, POSSESSED frontman Jeff Becerra talked candidly about the 1989 shooting that left him paralyzed from the chest down, his battle with drugs and alcohol, the early days of the Bay Area thrash metal scene and his future as a wheelchair-bound frontman for the death metal legends.

Regarding the robbery that left him paralyzed, Becerra said: "The first bullet went into my chest about six inches above the nipple, went through the lung and stuck on the inside of my spine. I put my hand up as I was going down, and the second bullet clipped the top of my ring finger off. But at least it didn't hit me in the head. So I was on the ground, and the first guy put the gun to my head and pulled the trigger, and the gun jammed — luckily for me, some criminals don't know how to clean their automatic weapons."

On performing at the 2007 Wacken Open Air festival in Germany, Becerra told Guitar World: "The show was amazing, and it was a great way for me to get back into the scene — but I was terrified, just shaking onstage in front of like 60,000 people. It was really emotional for me to be back out there, and I was really hoping that people wouldn't look at the chair and see 'poor Jeff.' I just didn't want to make a fool of myself and of the POSSESSED name — I didn't want to lose the only thing I ever was, you know?"

Guitar World has posted exclusive interview outtakes and new photos of Jeff at this location.

Fan-filmed video footage of POSSESSED performing the song "Tribulation" live at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City in 2007 can be viewed below (courtesy of AngryPit.com).