It’s been a very sad week for the local music community, with word getting around of the death of Hotel Lobbyists drummer Mike Gurr.

The Vancouver band was on its way from Winnipeg to Calgary, driving along the Trans-Canada Highway east of Brandon, Manitoba, when its van flipped in the early hours of September 25. Gurr, who was 26 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Lobbyists’ guitarist-vocalist James Wood is in a medically induced coma and remains in critical condition in a Winnipeg hospital with a crushed pelvis, spinal injuries, punctured lungs, and lacerations to one of his kidneys and his liver. Doctors performed emergency surgery on Saturday to relieve pressure on his brain.

The two other Lobbyists, bassist Jordie Dammet and guitarist Jordan Isaacs, along with the driver of the van, escaped from the accident with minor injuries.

“We’re all heartbroken over the loss of Mike, and we’re focusing our positive vibes on James,” Ryan Hoben of local band the Smokes told the Straight, adding: “It still hasn’t sunk in. I can’t believe it. It’s not even real, man.”

Hoben is organizing a benefit show at Pub 340 for October 16, which will feature the Smokes, the Stumbler’s Inn, No Horses, Thee Manipulators, and Shiloh Lindsay.

“There’s a Facebook group set up, called A Night of Music in Mike’s Honour,” Hoben said. “And all the proceeds go to helping Mike’s family with funeral costs, and helping James’s family, and James as well. He was broke when he left, so he can come back and have something.”