Memorial honors Katastro's Andy Chaves, killed in car crash: 'He was just the sweetest'

Tempe's Marquee Theatre unveiled a memorial to the late Andy Chaves of Katastro in the venue's lobby Wednesday.

The singer and two other passengers were killed in a car accident on May 12 on Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach, California.

He was 32.

Less than a week after Chaves' death, the Marquee hosted a candlelight vigil in its  parking lot, where fans had built their own memorial outside what Katastro referred to in announcing the vigil on Twitter as "our hometown venue."

Tracy Henderson is the Marquee's general manager.

"Fans just kind of started showing up at Marquee and they started this out-of-the-blue memorial," Henderson says. "And it just grew from there. It just ended up being an absolutely breathtaking vigil."

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'Part of the Marquee family'

That memorial ended up catching fire, which Henderson believes was caused by sunlight shining through glass vases like a magnifying glass.

The Marquee gave what it could salvage from that parking lot memorial to Chaves' father when he brought the family to the Marquee on his birthday for a show his son was supposed to have played with The Irie.

"I was able to give him all of the memorial items the fans had done," Henderson says. "It was really important for me not to let that stuff get destroyed in a storm or anything like that."

The efforts of those fans inspired Marquee owner Tom LaPenna to have a more lasting memorial built to Chaves in the lobby, Henderson says, as "something to kind of memorialize how long they've been a part of the Marquee family."

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'I've seen these boys grow up'

Henderson herself has been part of that family for 17 years.

"So I've seen these boys grow up," she says. "They were a supporting act. Then they went up to headliners."

The unveiling of the permanent memorial to Chaves took place Aug. 10, followed by a free show with Giovannie and The Hired Guns and Christopher Shayne.

A painting of Chaves now hangs between paintings of Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell and Snoop Dogg on the Marquee's wall of legends.

"We want to make sure that everybody knows that he's not gonna be forgotten," Henderson says. "And we want to make sure that they remember that we're a community, you know?"

Formed in 2007 and also featuring Andrew Stravers, Tanner Riccio and Ryan Weddle, Katastro celebrated the release of "Sucker," their latest collection of hip-hop-flavored modern rock, with two release shows at the Marquee Theatre in June 2021.

The album was preceded by “The Way I Feel,” a summer jam that turned up on a number of taste-making Spotify playlists including The New Alt, New Noise, PopRox and Beach Vibes.

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'He was just the sweetest kid'

"The band as a whole, they just bring an energy," Henderson says.

"You can tell that they love what they're doing. It's basically part of their soul. As for Andy himself, he was a born entertainer. He was just the sweetest kid. The sweetest man. And he was always good for a hug. He gave the warmest hugs."

Chaves and his bandmates were supposed to spend the summer on the road with Iration and Atmosphere.

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Katastro say 'The story isn't over'

In late May, Katastro shared a tweet thanking fans for "the overwhelming amount of love and support we have received from you since the news of Andy's passing" and announcing that they wouldn't perform any of their scheduled tour dates.

"We feel it's incredibly important for us to take time to process our new reality and make sure we continue his legacy in the best way possible," they tweeted.

"Andy completely changed our lives and we are so grateful to have been a part of something special. We are sitting on some music that we have worked on over the last few months and plan on completing them when the time is right for us. The story isn't over."

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Katastro's Andy Chaves, killed in car crash, honored with memorial