Memories
Share your thoughts, memories, well wishes or just the random stuff that you wish you could have sent to Warren.
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Feel free to contribute!
Share your thoughts, memories, well wishes or just the random stuff that you wish you could have sent to Warren.
Warren and I have known each other since college where we quickly became buddies bonding over movies, tv, and games (shoutout to Roadhouse, a shared movie gem). I remember in college we had solid days of trying to beat all the Mega Man games on NES. Yes, we are old, but we did it! I cherish these times, and it was the start of a lifelong friendship filled with many religiously-played games. From Timesplitters, GTA Vice City and Splashdown to Zombie Army, Borderlands and (reluctantly) Rocket League, we shared so many hours talking and having fun. Warren was the Leroy Jenkins of the group often running ahead and doing side quests. He was the king of loot gathering, which, not surprisingly, was also his hobby in real life with his massive record collection (like wall-to-wall in his apartment.) Before Covid, Warren and I had a routine of meeting up IRL (I know, weird) and playing Burnout, a game where you just crash your car for points, then we’d get Chinese food and top it off with a FroYo run. It was the best. The thing I love most about Warren was his love for the things he loved, including his friends. He was a true soul. I will miss you greatly, Warren.
There’s no way to describe Warren apart from “pillar of community”. He was an incredibly kind, funny and stand-up person who was deeply loved by his many friends, including myself. I always enjoyed hanging out and having a beer with Warren at festivals and shows and cracking jokes with him online. He was insightful and knowledgeable about music and a wealth of other topics and always shared his passion freely. Warren is responsible for introducing me to many loved bands I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. He will deeply missed.
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Warren for over a decade. First online through music forums and then finally meeting him in person in 2017. Despite me just being a person he chatted to from time to time, he graciously offered me to sleep at his apartment (as well as 3 others) before driving us all the next day to Oakland – a grueling 6 hour drive that went by quickly thanks to his good company. That is only just a small instance of the generosity and kindness that he exhibited on a constant basis. We continued talking over the years, trading music recs and life in general. Perhaps thanks to being an English major, his ability to make you laugh with random quips and puns was unparalleled.
To say the man was a music encyclopedia is an understatement, his vast collection of vinyls being easily the modern day version of the library of Alexandria. But his knowledge didn’t end with music, he was an avid movie fanatic and eager to share all kinds of wisdom. I’m from Spain and thanks to him I now know what a California burrito tastes like, have experienced the wonders of Waffle House and have an incredibly curated list of spots from him to visit in LA that I still pass onto my friends whenever they visit the city. The museum of Jurassic Technology was one of his favorite spots in the world and so too did it become mine.
He was my listed emergency contact everytime I visited the US, we always partook in exchanging sweet treats on every visit. I loved the cake balls he bought and my dispensary is still full of other delicacies he gave me from last year.
We were making plans to go to a festival next year in Athens, after unfortunately not being to see each other this year in the US or in Europe. Because as much as he loved music and Running Wild, he still put his family above all else.
I’m not sure if Warren’s family will be reading this, and I’m sure you all know this, but he was an extraordinary human being and the communal grief that I’ve seen over his passing just re-affirms this. To his parents, you should be proud of having raised such a great son. His memory will live on and I’m fortunate to have met him.
RIP
I unfortunately never got the chance to meet Warren in person, but I was blessed enough to strike up a friendship online in the musical and personal circles we both frequented in the last few years. He was a stand up guy in every way, incredibly kind and knowledgable, had a nigh-perfect taste in music along with a wit quicker than lightning, and was a true cornerstone of the communities we were a part of together. Sharing ire over topics of music discussion online and cracking jokes (which he had a real knack for) together is something I’m going to look back on fondly, albeit with sadness.
It breaks my heart that I’ll never be able to meet him and thank him for everything, and he will be deeply missed by me and everyone who knew him.
I’ll see you in the skies, brother. Rest well.
I only got to first interact with Warren ~2.5 years ago, in the short time since I have learned more from him than I would have learned on my own in a whole lifetime.
Like many others, Warren’s taste in music made its way to me. I cannot count the number of bands and albums he introduced to me. Almost everything I listen to can be traced back to Warren.
At the time back then, I had just gotten into record collecting. I would message Warren often asking every question that came to my head. I wanted to know what’s the best way to store records, best way to find records, what to look out for, etc. A testament to Warren’s love for sharing his interest, he always answered. Six months into talking with him, he offered to sell me some LPs he was looking to offload. In a way, it felt like an honor. By that point, I thought Warren was one of the coolest people I had ever met, so it was exciting for him to offer me some of the music he loved. Throughout the two years since I’ve been able to own so many amazing albums because of Warren. Every time I play them I think of him.
I’ve also been lucky enough to meet Warren a few times, and it was always a pleasure. We could talk for so long about anything. My fondest memory was at a past Maryland Deathfest he traveled to. A local record vendor, Warren, and I were having a conversion for almost an hour talking about music and vinyl. I honestly talked the least, but hearing Warren talk was awe-inspiring. You could really tell how much he loved it, a type of passion everyone dreams of having.
Every time I got the chance to talk to Warren I always learned something new. The knowledge he had was endless, yet the kindness and selflessness he showed was still greater. I always thanked him multiple times for everything, but I wish I could tell him how much he had done for me in such a short time.
I will forever miss you, bud.
I was lucky enough to meet Warren once in 2023 when I traveled to Houston for a metal festival. We were part of the same group of friends but we hadn’t talked that much. In the brief time we did talk, it was obvious that he knew more about music than anyone else I’d ever met. Since then we have chatted on and off in various online groups with our shared friends. He was unbelievably funny and always had good insights on a range of topics.
I wish I knew him better than I did, but I’m glad that I was able to know him at all.
Rest in peace, man
I knew Warren online for close to 15 years now, and he’s always been a mentor for my metal journey. His passion for music was electric, and he loved sharing his love of music with anyone and everyone. When I was first getting into heavy metal, he made a bunch of mix cds for me to check out, all without asking. Even though we were in different countries, I was lucky enough to meet him in person in LA back in 2017, and we just as wise and witty in person as he was online. All of us are in debt to him for showing us the way on our music journey, and the metal community will never be the same without him.
Rest easy, Warren.
I first interacted with Warren 6 years ago, back when I was starting to listen to metal. He was always willing to share with me, and anyone else for that matter, his favorite music. His knowledge was nigh encyclopedic, but he was always ready to recommend an album or two (or 15). Beyond that, he was an incredibly kind and funny guy, always willing to stand up for his friends. He always managed to find a joke for any situation and offered help to any of us in need or looking for advice.
I’m sad I never got to meet him in person; but maybe in another life, another universe.
Rest easy, friend
Warren was a beautiful and dear friend. I shall miss him terribly. We first met in person after years of online camaraderie at Mass Destruction 2023 to see Pagan Altar among others. I’ll never forget being up close when Pagan Altar started playing and within minutes a mosh pit formed behind me but I was so enthralled with the performance I didn’t notice. Needless to say I got caught up in it and immediately landed on my backside covered in my glass of tequila. I didn’t have any time to register this as Warren who was stood behind me at the time picked me up and scooped me back up on my feet within seconds. That was Warren in a nutshell. Looking after his friends with fierce loyalty and devotion. You will always be in my heart Warren. Much love always.
At a time when I was in the throes of discovering lots of cool lesser-known/underground metal music several years back, this man was at the forefront of it. Having so much knowledge yet still remaining incredibly humble and grounded is such an amazing trait of him to have.
After exclusively interacting via online forums and chats, I met him in person briefly in 2023 at a heavy metal fest in Houston. I was low-key starstruck to be honest, although we didn’t get to speak in person much. Still, this news truly hurts. He was an amazingly cool dude. Everyone loved his sense of humour and wit. I personally owe a lot to him in the sense of how formative he was in shaping my current music taste. I’ll carry that with me for always. My only regret is probably not letting him know how much I appreciated the impact that he had in this regard.
Truly a presence and a shining pillar of our rock/metal community, he will be missed deeply.
Rest well, brother.
Warren and I knew each other vaguely and tangentially through the heavy metal scene as of about ten years ago, he was someone I and everyone else really looked up to, always quick to offer recommendations, answer questions, and share knowledge about his favorite music.
We really started to become friends when we met at a festival in Texas in 2022. We went to that same fest 3 years in a row, as well as to Vegas to see one of our favorite bands, and met up in Baltimore every year that he was there for another festival. As it’s a short drive for me from DC, I made a point of at least going for one night to see some music and hang with him and other friends.
I think we bonded a lot the last few years, as beyond our taste in music, we shared a similar sense of humor and world view, and being the same age in a mostly younger group of friends at these fests, it was easy to get close. We started speaking almost daily probably 2 years ago, mostly about music, but increasingly about general life things as well. I am struggling to articulate the meaningfulness of a friendship with someone that existed predominantly via text message, but as everyone who knew him can attest, he was so deeply genuinely, cared so much for other people, and was such a loyal friend, it was easy to feel like we had known each other our whole lives. He always reached out to lend an ear when he knew things might be rough with me, and always knew when to just send me music without expecting anything in return.
So many of my favorite bands now are ones I associate with him, and it’s hard to listen to them today, but I know I will continue to, and I’m grateful for that association and that those memories won’t go away.
Warren was extraordinarily smart, almost impossibly knowledgeable about music (and movies and tv), interesting, funny, but most importantly he was a really really good guy, even on the internet, where it’s easy not to be, he always radiated decency. I miss him terribly already, and I know all of our friends do as well. My deepest condolences to his family and everyone who knew him, rest in peace my friend.
After a few months of trying to coordinate our calendars, which felt like a game of Schedule Battleship, I finally met Warren at a surf guitar festival. Fitting. I thought it wouldn’t be my thing, but the appeal of hanging out in the flesh with someone who quickly became such a beloved member of our tiny community of heavy metal absurdists and obscurists was too good to pass up. And I quickly found out that Warren, in person, matched his online persona: easily affable, effortlessly funny, and absurdly knowledgeable, without holding these rare qualities over anyone. So, from Warren’s vendor perch, where he was slinging records all weekend, we watched Dick Dale’s son play “Misirlou,” talked shop about all the shows we were probably at together, and got cornered by an, uh, insistent gentleman who wanted to show us his Yngwie Malmsteen autograph. When Japan’s The Surf Coasters took the stage for a rare US appearance, I looked back at Warren, who was completely immersed in the tunes. He wore this look that said no matter how many tens of thousands of hours he logged with this stuff, he still derived boundless joy from music, that this was the thing and would always be the thing. “That was awesome,” I said after the set. Warren concurred. I also knew Warren was awesome; I wanted to hang out with this guy again.
So we did. During a break at a metal festival, I watched Warren move through a messy record store with the practiced smoothness of a figure skater, this efficient appraisal of the wares that netted him some bargain rarities. I can’t really do it justice; it was like watching a master artisan at work. But what impressed me more than his crate-digging skills was just how giving Warren was, how he always listened to stories or half-baked observations that went nowhere, how he always engaged, how he always felt present. Every person I introduced him to loved him because they could recognize that he was…just…there. He wasn’t sending out a representative to do the dirty work of absentminded small talk. He was authentic, real, be it with a keen bit of liner note wisdom or earned praise for musicians.
I last saw Warren at an afternoon Throw Rag show. That wasn’t my thing either, but if I was free, I was willing to go to any show Warren was going to. It was fun. It was always fun. We quickly hashed out plans for the rest of the year. We just missed each other at Warren’s next show: He did the matinee at Alex’s, Sheer Terror, while I was there that night for Acid Mothers Temple. We shared war stories the next day, and, again, I could tell he genuinely cared if I had a good time. We bemoaned the dearth of shows scheduled for 2026—”bleak” in Warren’s estimation. I laughed—god, he was funny, always with a whip-smart one-liner in the chamber. I was excited to tell him that I could make the upcoming Blind Guardian show, too, a concert that will take on a bit more weight now.
The thing I’ll never forget about Warren is simply how quickly it felt like he was a friend. We had some commonality: two Mass boys who found their ways to SoCal and had uncommonly deep interests in music. But, really, I think that was just Warren’s way, how his kindness in an otherwise inhospitable SoCal landscape felt like a hug. In turn, if you were open to him, you got exposed to so many cool things you were sure to embrace. It’s like he knew. Like, now I’m a Surf Coasters fan for life. Whenever I hear surf guitar in the future, he will be there. And I guess I can’t really convey how big of an impact he made on all of us on the Discord we shared in such a short time. There’s a quote I keep going back to, one that I’ll paraphrase: Connecting with someone else is the only way to live another life. I feel like Warren, through his joy for music and general generosity, gave us all this glimpse at another life, even if it was through something as simple as a recommendation or just being a good hang. Thank you, Warren.
I met Warren my freshman year at Chapman. We were both editors on the school newspaper, and would spend long hours together in the newsroom. This was back when music was a shared experience, and we’d all take turns setting the playlist for that night’s work session. Warren took it upon himself to broaden my musical education – the first gift he ever gave me was a pair of Dead Kennedys CDs. While we never did end up aligning on music, we did discover a shared love of entertainment and started movie nights that would continue weekly for the next 20+ years.
He was one of my closest friends, and there’s no easy way to encapsulate a relationship that spanned decades, where the other person becomes part of your landscape. We both had jobs that landed us constantly online, and so we’d chat throughout the day – half of our conversations was just sharing links to the stupid random stuff we’d find on Reddit or Twitter.
Before Google Maps was a thing, we used to call each other if we were lost and needed the other person to look up an address on Mapquest. He was also the friend who I called that time I bought an entertainment center that was significantly heavier than expected, and we needed help carrying it up our apartment stairs.
There was a roughly five year period where he sent his mail to my place and I got to watch the steady stream of record-shaped packages coming in from all over the world. The mailman started hand-delivering all my letters as part of the process, which was an added perk. Warren would come by, grab the mail and we’d go out for dinner and then watch something together.
We frequented all of the finer establishments in Los Angeles – Ono Hawaiian BBQ, Panda Express, Zankou, Palms Thai (aka Thai Elvis), Hugo’s, Elena’s, Golden Tree, Jamba Juice, Crispy Crust (RIP), Triple Beam and a bunch more that I’m forgetting.
When he was working on Survivor logging endless hours of footage, he used to share behind the scenes gems and quotes from the cast. We’d then watch the episodes together when they aired.
Around 2014 he finally talked us into watching The Wire and movie nights were never the same after that. For starters, we stopped watching movies. Instead, we worked our way through a bunch of really good shows. We created The List and would add things to it that we wanted to watch together. He’d show up on a Sunday night with popcorn and seltzer and we’d go through a few episodes. We even kept it going during the pandemic – we’d queue up a show, coordinate playing at the same time, and then share pithy observations over chat.
The world feels smaller and sadder without him here, but the impact that he made on those around him will reverberate through time.
Rest well, my friend.
Only knew him online – was a funny bastard who knew & loved his Metal & rock. Smarter & sharper than most without being a wanker about it – Rock In Peace Rabbit/SMO01.
I think its evident from all these entries that Warren was a pillar of not just one, but of several communities and a general stabilizing force wherever he found himself. Warren’s influence on my group of friends and the general online culture surrounding heavy metal in the United States has shaped who I am today to a much larger degree than I’d ever reckoned until these last few days. Warren was an omnipresent older brother who never talked down to anyone just for being new. He understood that the most important thing was to share this music we all love and to show people what it really is about this culture that keeps us hanging around all these years. And he did it so naturally that you never think to thank him for it; that’s just who he was.
Of the hundreds of concerts I’ve attended, my fondest memory is seeing Solutude Aeturnus for their first reunion show at Hell’s Heroes 2023. . If you know Warren, he was usually one to watch from the back of the crowd (or wherever he’d determined the sound was optimal). Well, the band was outstanding, so I had made my way to the front of the crowd and run into none other than Warren, just as starry-eyed and bewildered as I was. SA was one of his favorite bands, so it warmed my heart to see him having so much fun. We exchanged some sort of mosh-hug there in the throng and it was a moment of pure heavy metal magic.
Rest easy buddy, I’ll be thinking about you forever. Thank you.
Warren was the last person I ended up talking to at this year’s Hell’s Heroes in Houston shortly before my ride arrived to the airport. He had shared the same hotel as some friends and I, and we reflected on the fest and mused over how next year’s might not be quite as good, though inevitably digressed into factoids, tour schedules, and lesser known releases of some of our favorite bands (Running Wild being chief among them). If memory serves he was probably wearing the same Dark Age shirt as when I first met him at the same fest two years previous, a band whose sole EP is a complete unknown to most and absolute beloved classic to people exactly like Warren. Obviously I had no idea that would be the last time I’d talk to him in person, and thanks to the magic of the Internet thankfully it wasn’t the last time we ever interacted, but that will forever be my image of who he was: a calm, collected, elder statesman of online music circles (despite not being old by any stretch) who had seen more shows than most of us could imagine and forgotten more about music than most of us will ever know, but never seemed to appreciate any given show, moment, or artist/album any less despite all that experience.
I like to think I’m a pretty knowledgeable person about my favorite types of music, but Warren could fire off a double-digit list of ’80s heavy metal hidden gems that I had never heard of in a matter of minutes. When confronted with my own mention of a ’70s Uruguayan prog. rock band who rushed through a pressing of their first album during that country’s brief dictatorship, he could in the same breath point me to the Chicago-based label who had reissued the album on CD in 2019. All of this to say, even in the modern age of available information, Warren was the library of Alexandria and myself and so many others would not be the same listeners or even the same people without him having been so present in the communities where we congregate.
“DOTS” (Warren) forever
Years ago, when I was just a faceless username among dozens talking about heavy metal on the internet, Warren went well out of his way to guide my journey into the music. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for him… I think he must have done stuff like this for dozens upon dozens of people. He was an incredibly knowledgeable man and he shared it all with the patience of a teacher.
Since meeting him face to face in 2022, Warren had become one of the people I looked forward to seeing most whenever I came to Southern California (or he to Northern California), or when we both went to other cities and states for music. I can’t even describe how much Warren did to help me access shows that would have otherwise been very difficult to see coming from where I live. And man, he did it like it wasn’t even a big deal. Buy him a breakfast and call it even. What the hell, man.
Reading the messages and stories from all the people who knew him, it looks like all this was something that Warren did regularly. He was an incredibly giving person. Generous and kind, volunteering to drive or to be uncomfortable or to front money so that his friends and even people he barely knew could have an easier time following the call of steel. It was a real privilege to be his friend.
Fittingly, the last band we saw together was Cirith Ungol, and they played what I think was his favorite track. Rest well, Warren. I’ll see you again in the final days, when that molten globe torches the sky and the solar winds parch the land.
I met Warren online sometime around 15 years ago. We had many things in common from music to TV shows, film and fiction. We chatted quite frequently over the years about a myriad of random junk. I felt we had built quite a connection over the years, though I had less time to talk in the last few. I still frequently sent and received a funny message from him.
Warren helped me through multiple difficult times in my life. I met him one time in person in 2018 for a festival and had the time of my life.
I am utterly heartbroken that I will never get to speak another word with him, never hear his thoughts on things, never ask him another question, never get another recommendation.
I am so sorry for your loss to all his friends and family who knew him even better in person, thank you for sharing all the joy he brought to your lives. I hope Warren knew how much we all cared about him and how much we respected and enjoyed his company.
I will miss him dearly.
Like a lot of people, I met Warren through online metal forums and first knew him by his handle: deathofthesun. And also like a lot of people, I was struck immediately by the breadth and depth of his knowledge, and how despite being such an expert he apparently had no ego about it whatsoever; he just cared, deeply, about the music and its history.
As I interacted with him more it turned out we were nearly the same age, and had many of the same formative cultural landmarks, like Mr Show and Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Timesplitters 2. We both lived through the ’90s heyday of skatepunk and 3rd wave ska, and had some of the same southern California favorites as well (go visit the Museum of Jurassic Technology!).
Everyone is giving testimony to how thoughtful, smart, learned, kind, generous, and funny he was; I have to echo all of it because that’s how I experienced him too. His sense of humor was incisive and brilliant, and if he laughed at one of your jokes it was like a badge of honor.
Only in these last few days did I reflect on the fact that in one way or another I’d been corresponding with Warren for 12 years. I took for granted that he’d always be around and be the backbone of the community; I always thought I’d meet him in person at some point when I could make it to the right fest.
There’s a kind of immortality in the mark you leave on other people even after your death, and the positive influence that Warren left on hundreds (thousands?) of people—and the consequent influence those people have on others, etc.—is immense. Even in our music-focused communities, it wasn’t just his knowledge that he left with us, but his character as well. I wish he were still here and I still can’t quite believe he isn’t.
Oh, Warren. We all miss you so much over at Last Rites. You made such an incredible, lasting impression on everyone there. And I know that is the case for so many other circles of friends as well. You will always be such a great teacher, and friend, to so many of us. My greatest hope is that the people you connected through music can forge new friendships, and stronger ones, through your eternal memory. We are missing you dearly, but your energy and spirit have already gone through us like a ripple of positivity. You did everything so right in this life. What an honor it was to have been chosen as one of your friends. I’ll be thinking of you always.
To Warren’s friends and family perhaps outside of the metalverse, I did the best send-off that I could here:
https://yourlastrites.com/2025/12/04/a-tribute-to-deathofthesun-rest-in-peace-warren-binder/
Words often fail to equate our true emotions, but that’s what all our album lists are for, yeah? I love you, my friend. Be at peace.