Jason Matthew Thirsk (December 25, 1967 – July 29, 1996) was the former bass player of the California punk rock band Pennywise who grew up in Hermosa Beach, California.
Pennywise was formed in 1988 by Thirsk along singer Jim Lindberg, guitarist Fletcher Dragge, drummer Byron McMackin. Thirsk who had been in rehabilitation for alcoholism and suffered from depression, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 28. The band decided to continue making music after Thirsk's death, and brought in bass guitarist Randy Bradbury from One Hit Wonder. The band then set about writing an album of new material which was made up of mostly anti-suicide messages. One of Pennywise's most popular songs, "Bro Hymn", was originally written by Thirsk as a tribute to three of his friends, Tim Colvin, Carlos Canton who died in a car accident, and Tom Nichols who drowned at Hermosa Beach Pier in 1988. The band re-recorded the song after his death as a tribute to their fallen bandmate, replacing the line "Canton, Colvin, Nichols, this one's for you" with "Jason Matthew Thirsk, this one's for you", and renaming the track "Bro Hymn Tribute". It appears as the final track on Full Circle released in 1997, and also live on Live @ the Key Club, released in 2000. Justin Thirsk, Jason's brother and drummer from 98 Mute, appears on the re-recording both on drums and vocals.
Coordinates: 54°13′58″N 1°20′31″W / 54.232731°N 1.342050°W / 54.232731; -1.342050
Thirsk is a small market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is 8 miles (13 km) south-south east of the county town of Northallerton.
According to the 2011 UK Census, the population was 4,998. Thirsk is a popular tourist destination close to the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It has a variety of small and medium-sized businesses. It was the home of author James Herriot and birthplace of Thomas Lord, after whom Lord's Cricket Ground is named. Thirsk racecourse is on the western edge of the town.
Local archeological finds indicate there was a settlement here around 500–600 BC. The town is mentioned twice in the Domesday Book as Tresche, in the Yarlestre hundred. At the time of the Norman invasion the manor was split between Orm and Thor, local Saxon landowners. Afterwards the manor was split between Hugh, son of Baldric and the Crown. Most of the land was granted thereafter to Robert de Mowbray, after whom the surrounding vale is named.
Thirsk was a parliamentary borough in Yorkshire, represented in the English and later British House of Commons in 1295, and again from 1547. It was represented by two Members of Parliament until 1832, and by one member from 1832 to 1885, when the constituency was abolished and absorbed into the new Thirsk and Malton division of the North Riding of Yorkshire.
The borough consisted of originally of the town of Old Thirsk, and included a population of only 1,378 at the 1831 census. The right to vote was restricted to the holders of burgage tenements, of which there were 50 in 1831. The Frankland family were the local landowners (in 1816 Sir Thomas owned 49 of the 50 burgage tenements), and in effect could nominate whoever they wanted as Members of Parliament; there was no contested election in Thirsk between 1715 and 1832.
The Great Reform Act of 1832 expanded the boundaries to include the townships of Thirsk, Sowerby, Carlton Miniott, Sandhutton, Bagby and South Kilvington, increasing the population to 4,672 and encompassing 1,064 houses, which was considered big enough for the borough to retain one of its two members.