Welsh was born on April 20, 1971, in
Syracuse, New York. He began his career as a
Boston-area musician, playing in bands such as Heretix, Chevy Heston, Jocobono, Left Nut, and Slower. He was a touring bassist for
Juliana Hatfield and
Verbena. In 1997, he joined the first incarnation of the Rivers Cuomo Band, the side-project of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo. During Weezer's hiatus, he played with Verbena and the first incarnation of
Patrick Wilson's band
the Special Goodness. He wrote a large number of basslines in this period, recorded them and sent them to Rivers Cuomo for writing inspiration, although Cuomo never used any of them. Instead, he contributed four of these to
Juliana Hatfield's 2000 album ''
Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure''. Welsh was given a co-writing credit for four songs. He toured with Weezer beginning with their resurgence in the summer of 2000 and first appeared on their limited edition
Christmas CD EP later that year (re-released in 2005 as
Winter Weezerland). He subsequently played on 2001's
Green Album as well as a number of B-sides and unreleased songs from the era, and also performed with the band most of the way through tours supporting the album.
Mental illness and exit from Weezer In 2001, Welsh suffered a breakdown brought on by drug use, undiagnosed mental health problems, and the strain of touring. After attempting suicide by drug overdose, he left Weezer. The reason for his exit was not made public until some time later. He was checked into a psychiatric hospital in August 2001. He later spoke about the ordeal in an interview with the website
Rock Salt Plum: Weezer shot a new version of the video for their song "
Island in the Sun" without Welsh. Following Welsh's departure in 2001, the band hired
Scott Shriner to replace Welsh.
Retirement from music In late 2001/2002, Welsh returned to the Boston music scene by temporarily joining
the Kickovers, the band of
Nate Albert, guitarist for
the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. In an interview, he expressed his distaste for the corporate music process, stating that, "It's actually fun to just be playing in the studio without some major-label idiot standing over your shoulder." Soon after, he retired from music to become a full-time artist. Welsh attended a Weezer show on July 12, 2005, in
Lewiston, Maine. Cuomo dedicated "
Hash Pipe" to him, drawing cheers from the crowd. On September 2, 2010, he joined the band on stage at a show in
Essex Junction, Vermont, to play bass on the song "Hash Pipe". On July 29, 2011, Welsh played guitar on the song "
Undone" with Weezer and
the Flaming Lips at a show in New York.
Art career Welsh became an artist and, as of August 2008, had 13 exhibitions of his artwork. He was a member of
Outsider Art. A quote from Welsh's official website explained his methods of creating his art: Welsh's artwork is featured on a
Burton snowboard, in a line of snowboards titled "The Farm". He designed and painted the album cover for Twin Berlin's debut album. ==Death==