In less than three months, Jesse Malin went from standing on the back bar of the Garage in London to being in a bed in a hospital in New York. That night at The Garage, his elongated mic lead stretched out over the heads of the sold-out audience, and conducting a singalong to The Replacements’ Bastards Of Young, Malin was his own archetype: parts broken-down folk singer and brawling, cocky rock’n’roller. There was nothing quite like him live.
Then, on May 4 2023, Malin suffered an exceedingly rare spinal-cord infarction – a stroke in his back – while having dinner in the East Village. Gathered with friends to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Howie Pyro, Malin’s former D Generation bandmate and best friend, he felt a burning pain down his hips, through his thighs and into his heels.
