Earlier this month, local band Low Budget Rock Star had to unfortunately, with heavy hearts, say good-bye to the ultimate band mate, co-pilot, captain, brainchild and mentor of the band, Richie Cudmore. Cudmore was fighting a battle against cancer and although he never gave up, his body just couldn’t keep battling it anymore.
Cudmore’s introduction to forming the band Low Budget Rock Star started out by connecting with Kennie Henderson. They built a lifelong friendship and musical connection.
“Over the years Richie had played in many bands and I was just an up and coming sort of musician,” said Henderson. “It was the summer of 2017, when I first met Richie, we had instant chemistry and it was if we were soul band mates. We were both playing with our old bands and ran into each other at the Alouette. We got talking about music and the tour my band was going on in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. Richie told me if I ever needed a drummer to let him know. I told him I was going to hold him to that and that’s just what I did.
“Not even two weeks later, the day before we were to go on tour, our original drummer bailed. I was scrambling around and then it hit me that I needed to call Richie. At the time Richie was experiencing some health issues, but he wasn’t sure if he could go, because he had his first round with cancer. Sure enough and God willing it was meant to be, Richie was on board.