With a white towel wrapped around his neck, Kevin “BK” Brooks stood on stage with the help of his prosthetic leg and shared details with the crowd about his battle with sarcoma.
But he didn’t stay on the topic for too long.
Even as the rare and ruthless form of cancer was wearing him down, it seems the lead singer for the Montreal hardcore punk band Maxxpower wanted the focus to be on his music.
“Now that we got the f–-king bullshit out of the way, let’s live in the moment because that’s all that exists,” Brooks told the crowd at Espace Tapage in Batiment 7, a community space in the city’s Pointe-Saint-Charles neighbourhood, before carrying on with the concert.
Brooks’s mother, Rachel Abugov, was in attendance. She describes her son’s ability to perform that Friday night last August as “incredibly badass.”
“It was actually the best show I’ve ever seen him do,” she said.
It was also Brooks’s last.
He died in January at the age of 43, just days after he booked his launch party for his newest album, Tumor Humor, which he crafted in the last year while undergoing chemotherapy and rehab.
Despite his passing, the album launch party is happening tonight at Turbo Haüs, in downtown Montreal.
“This was Kevin’s wish,” said Abugov. “He wanted to have a Plan B in case he wasn’t able to be there.”
Friday night’s show will be a tribute and a celebration.
Brooks, or BK as he’s known in the music scene, is described as a kind, humble and inspirational soul who persevered after the devastating disease rocked him and his family at what may have been the worst possible time.
Brooks was born in Toronto but his family moved to Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood when he was two years old.
His journey as a musician began during his teens, when he fell in love with rap music and eventually honed his skills both on the mic and as a beatmaker.
His group Maxxpower specializes in powerviolence, a fast-paced and frantic subgenre of hardcore punk.
“He prioritized his love for the music he made over money,” said Andrew Valaskakis, a rapper known as Coolman Logan, who was Brooks’s best friend for nearly three decades.
“He would reject offers to sell beats because he didn’t want to make a bad song that would stay on the internet forever and make a few hundred dollars from it.”
Brooks’s love for music helped him cope when he was going through a breakneck wave of emotions in the year leading up to his death.
Sarcoma is a rare form of cancer that develops in bone and connective tissue.
According to his mother, Brooks was diagnosed just seven weeks after his son, Jacob, was born.
“It should’ve been a supremely happy time for him,” said Abugov.
Instead, the cancer took its toll, spreading to his lungs and forcing the amputation of his leg.
At Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, Abugov remembers seeing other patients undergoing chemotherapy doing what they could to get their mind off things: some would knit or read, others would do crossword puzzles, she recalls.
Her son had a laptop and focused on making music.
During rehab, he even had an MPC, a music processing machine used for sampling and beatmaking, and laid the groundwork for his new album.
“For me, this was normal because this is the Kevin that I’ve always known,” said his mother. “This is something that’s always defined him.”
Abugov said proceeds of Friday’s concert will go to Brooks’s family and to the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital’s sarcoma research team.
Dr. Sophie Mottard, who is part of that team and is familiar with Brooks’s case, said advancing research for treatment is complex, given the different traits of each of the different forms of sarcoma.
“One drug would probably be good for one of the 115 subtypes but not for all of them,” Mottard said.
“So we’re in the process of looking at the genetics of every subtype of sarcoma to see if there is anything in the genomes or in the gene of the sarcoma where we could have new target therapy. And that is really complicated.”
In 2023, two doctors, one from the McGill University Health Centre and the other from Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, founded the province’s sarcoma research consortium, also known as SaRC-Q.
Abugov said she’s been overwhelmed by the outpour of tributes and support she’s seen on social media since her son died.
“I don’t know how I’m going to feel,” she said when asked about the kind of emotions that would run through her during tonight’s concert, which will feature artists from a variety of genres like rap, rock and reggae.
“But I’m prepared to have a good time. That’s what Kevin wanted the event to be.”
Abugov said songs from her son’s newest album will be playing in between the artists’ performances.
Valaskakis said he’s learned a lot of lessons from his best friend, especially during the last year: Life is unpredictable so don’t waste a second of it.
“Don’t give up because feeling bad for yourself doesn’t make your situation better. And I’ve learned that from him but I haven’t applied it, you know what I mean? I strive to be more like him,” he said.
“He made that album in the hardest conditions possible.”
