Bo Lueders, Harm’s Way Guitarist and HardLore Podcast Host, Dies at 38

Bo Lueders, the guitarist in hardcore band Harm’s Way and co-host of the popular HardLore podcast, has died. The band and podcast announced the news on Instagram yesterday (April 2), sharing resources for those living with depression and writing, “He will be remembered for his unwavering empathy and compassion for his friends and family and his magnetic, inimitable presence on and off the stage.” Lueders was 38 years old.

Lueders grew up in the Chicago metropolitan area, going to school in Roselle, where he met Harm’s Way drummer Christopher Mills. Having learned guitar at age 10, Lueders quickly became a hardcore aficionado (via Blink-182 and NOFX), formed a band with Mills called Double Crossed, and found a home in the Chicago hardcore community, particularly its straight-edge contingent. “I legit never had a negative experience once when getting into the hardcore scene in Chicago, and that’s something I’ll always take with me and try my best to emulate,” he told No Echo last year.

Lueders eventually co-founded Few and the Proud, the band that would evolve into Convicted and finally Harm’s Way, transitioning from power violence toward brawl-ready hardcore punk, with various strands of metal thrown in from one album to the next. After a string of albums, EPs, and singles on Organized Crime Records and Closed Casket Activities, the band broke out with a pair of albums for Deathwish Inc., drawing an international fanbase that continued to grow with their latest albums to date, 2018’s Posthuman and 2023’s Common Suffering, for Metal Blade. The same year as the latter, Lueders joined XweaponX for his first of three releases with the Louisville straight-edge hardcore band.

Following Lueders’ death, Harm’s Way and HardLore said in their statement, “We kindly ask for grace and privacy as we navigate this extremely difficult time. For those struggling with depression or urges to self harm, help is always available. We’re not in this alone. Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988.”

His HardLore co-host Colin Young added, “This beautiful thing we built together was the greatest honor of my life, and my only solace is knowing that we documented a lifetime of memories, at first to share with the world, but now to look back on and preserve your warm, kind soul forever. Say hey to Cayle and Cliff Burton for us, and feel free to stop by and haunt me any time. Every song is about you now. Let’s do it all again in the next life.”