Chris Ryker

**Christopher Wolfgang Ryker** (03/28/1987-12/28/2023; age 36) was a American born Canadian musician & professional monster truck driver. In music, he's best known as the vocalist for Necronation where he also founded the group. He is the former lead vocalist for the group Crossfire. Chris was the son of the late Scott Ryker.

## Chris Ryker

### Born

Christopher Wolfgang Ryker; May 28th 1987; Marinette, Wisconsin, U.S.

### Died

December 28, 2023 (age 36); Inglewood, California, U.S.

### Occupation

Vocalist, Professional monster truck driver

## Musical Career

### Genres

Industrial deathcore, Deathcore, Nu metal, Alternative metal, Punk metal, Emo metal, Hard rock, Alternative rock, Beatdown hardcore, Noise rock

### Associated acts

Necronation, Crossfire, Hardwire, Manticore

## Early Life and career

Chris Ryker was born at 1:27am central time in Marinette, Wisconsin. He loved monster trucks as a child & playing with the toys he had in his fathers home recording studio. A equestrian at heart, he loved his fathers horses (and they pretty much loved him back). When he found out his father was killed by Steven Ray Cooper on November 19th 1994, he was sad & also livid. "How could my uncle freaking do this?" he wondered, he wanted to start a band called Crossfire in his honor. He also got support from his new father Lemmy Kilmister to start one. In 1999 he gutteral growled for a recording for Hardwire's 2001 album "Lion Kisses" on the song of the same album name. He was just 12 years of age & people thought he was 20 years of age because of his gutteral vocals. In 2004 he formed the band Manticore with Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance/Leathermouth and Nate Rohkansyn of future Now and Never fame on drums but would be replaced by Nick Pierce, he disbanded the band in 2006 and debuted his monster truck driving career that same year filling in for Linsey Weenk & Iron Outlaw at a Tacoma Dome show.

## Crossfire (2007-2014)

the band recorded a demo called "Battlecross" in April of that year where they sent it to Williams Street Records where they were very impressed by their sound, so they signed the band to a 20 year deal with Williams Street Records. The band recorded their self-titled debut album for 2008. The band later had a Fourth of July party at Nathan's house where acts such as Blxde, Stitched Up Mouth, Necro Theory, The Nothing, Damnation & themselves as the acts, in 2010 the band released their second effort, "Black Sky" which had a more Industrial punk metal sounding. They would go on to headline Adult Swim Festival in 2011. In 2012 they started recording their third album, 2013's "Giraffe Tongue" had a more stronger Emo metal sounding. In 2014, Chris announced his departure from the band to focus on another project called "Necronation".

## Necronation (2015-2023)

Chris Ryker left Crossfire due to wanting to do his own thing. He met future bassist Bella Quinn, rhythm guitarist Rhys Ito, lead guitarist Ryan Hatrix and drummer Austin Deeb at Del's Bar. They did a cover of Motionless in White's Abigail at the open mic. They connected over metal, with the lineup fully confirmed. The band now named Necronation recorded a demo which caught the eye of Utech Records, who signed the band in late 2015. In 2016, the band released their debut album *Defamed Life* which featured a nu metal influenced deathcore sounding, which was praised. The band opened for Atilla for their tour and was on the Rob Zombie headlined Lemmy Stage at Knotfest 2017 along with the likes of Stone Sour, Eighteen Visions and Prayers, where Rob Zombie and Corey Taylor called Necronation "the future of deathcore".

In 2018, the band recorded their second album. 2019's *When Logic Fails* which featured both Chris Ryker's signature growls and screams along with him doing clean singing for the first time. When it first released the album received mixed reviews but had gotten rave reviews after the song *Bloodtub* was included in the 2020 horror film The Dark and the Wicked. The band played a virtual concert at the Resch Center on New Year's Eve which was appropriately called "Fuck Yeah, It's New Years Eve!" or "F\*\*k Yeah, It's New Year's Eve". In 2021, the band released their third album *Agony Inducing* which was praised. The band went on tour with Carnifex but was stopped after Chris Ryker tested positive for Coronavirus. In 2022, the band went on a eight week tour with Bad Omens and Carnifex. In 2023, the band released their fourth studio album *Archery for Cannibals* which was positively received and a 2023 tour with Sleep Token, Falling In Reverse and Crossfire was endured on March 11, 2023 until December 28, 2023.

## Discography

### With Hardwire

*Lion Kisses (2001) \*Only On The Song "Lion Kisses"\**

### With Crossfire

*Battlecross (2007, Demo)*

*Crossfire (2008)*

*Black Sky (2010)*

*Giraffe Tongue (2013)*

### With Necronation

*Defamed Life (2016)*

*When Logic Fails (2019)*

*Agony Inducing (2021)*

*Cattle for Cannibals (2023)*

## Personal Life

Christopher resided in Porterfield, Wisconsin and raised two male Arabian horses named "Snide" and "Vekar", raised a trained Pajuna bull named "Nexus", raised a tamed and trained male Elk named "Dope", raised one sphynx cat named "Squier" and raised 1 male Samoyed named "Nigel"

Chris Ryker was married to voice of Cadence from My Little Pony Britt McKillip from 2011 until his death in 2023 and have had two children together named Tyler (born 2012) & Lia Ryker-McKillip (born 2016). Currently, Britt has custody of the two children.

Chris was a Roman Christian and prayed every night with his children.

## Death

During a performance at SoFi Stadium on December 26, 2023, Chris Ryker collapsed on stage after performing the cover of Dethklok's *Murmaider*, he was rushed to a hospital and was put on life support but was declared brain dead on the morning December 28, 2023. Britt McKillip agreed to disconnect life support that same day and Chris Ryker passed away at the age of 35. His cause of death was revealed as pulmonary embolism. Tributes began pouring in for the fallen vocalist and Necronation disbanded following the death of Chris Ryker.