Mike Star (AIC) dead...

I know it was a few days ago, but I dont think it was posted here....

Friends of former ALICE IN CHAINS bassist Mike Starr — who was found dead in a Salt Lake City house on Tuesday on Tuesday — have told The Salt Lake Tribune that they believe the death was caused by Starr using both methadone and other prescription drugs.

"I don't think this was a suicide," said Brett Gunn of Salt Lake City, Starr's Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor. "We had a lot of plans."

Gunn said Starr had been using Opana to deal with a recurring pain from an injury. He then began using anti-anxiety medication Alprazolam, a benzodiazepine usually referred to by its trade name, Xanax, after his February run-in with the law. Gunn said he didn’t know Starr had been using the other medications while on methadone until after Starr's death, when Mike's friend, Travis Meeks, the frontman of the rock band DAYS OF THE NEW, told him.


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TMZ.com has obtained what it says was the last voicemail former ALICE IN CHAINS bassist Mike Starr left for a person he was trying to score drugs from hours before he died.

On the tape, which can be heard at this location, Mike says he's willing to pay whatever it costs to get his hands on some "bud," and insists, "I need it so bad."

Starr was reportedly "mixing" methadone and anxiety medication hours before he died on Tuesday (March 8), Starr's roommate told TMZ.com. Starr, who was 44, was found dead on Tuesday afternoon in a house in Salt Lake City. According to his roommate, Starr had been taking methadone recently in an effort to get sober, but had also been using anxiety medication since he was arrested last month and found in possession of a control substance.

Starr's roommate added, "Mike was a beautiful person who was fighting to stay sober . . . I am going to miss him greatly."

Police called to the scene when Starr's body was discovered said that foul play was not suspected, but that drugs were found near the body.

Starr was a founding member of ALICE IN CHAINS and played on its first two albums, but was kicked out of the band in 1993 because of his drug problems. He had been arrested numerous times over the years for DUI, reckless driving, and various drug charges in Los Angeles, Seattle and Salt Lake City.

Starr was featured as a cast member of the third season of the VH1 reality series "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew" in 2009, but struggled to stay clean once his season on the show was finished.

ALICE IN CHAINS issued a brief statement following the news of Starr's death, saying they were "mourning the loss of their friend" and asking for privacy.

Starr's February 17, 2011 mug shot (courtesy of Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office)