John Bradley, the founder, producer, and lead guitarist of Booster Patrol, passed away on March 20. He was 61.
Bradley was a music producer, guitarist, singer, lyricist, and artist who spent years building something real inside the independent creative community. He described himself as an “all-purpose gadabout” and ran the Postcards from the Age of Reason blog, where he had just begun documenting the full history of the Booster Patrol, Boomer Patrol, and Vaxx Trax musical projects which are some of the most hilarious and poignant works in modern times. That retrospective series, which launched in March, now stands as an unfinished record of a career that deserved a proper accounting.
The Boomer Patrol project started in June 2021 when Bradley took a set of parody lyrics and returned a completed recording within two days, impressing his collaborator enough to launch what became a catalog of over 100 songs. That was John Bradley in a sentence: fast, capable, and committed. He did not wait to be asked twice.
Vox Day, his collaborator and friend, honored him with an original song written in the style Bradley had mastered, describing him as both a bandmate and a friend.
Beyond the music, Bradley was a consistent and generous presence in the independent space in our community. He promoted books, encouraged writers, and showed up with optimism when the work was hard and the audience was still being built. That kind of community member is rare. He believed in what independent creators were doing before it was easy to believe in it, and he put real effort behind that belief.
The Booster Patrol catalog remains on YouTube and SoundCloud. Go listen to it. It is the best tribute available.
John Bradley was 61 years old. He will be missed.