Introduction
Charles Lopez (February 29, 1968 – March 9, 2004), better known by his stage name Rust Epique, was an American guitarist and painter, who performed with the bands Crazy Town and pre)Thing. A native Californian, he was also known for his enthusiastic rock star lifestyle.
Biography
Epique was born in Stockton, California, but raised in Modesto, California. He lived there until choosing to pursue a musical career that allowed him to tour with many bands, including "Kinesthesia", "Xit", "The Limit", and "Cliff Morrison". In 1989, he relocated to Hollywood to further his career. Prior to joining Crazy Town, Rust fronted "RUST and The SUPERHEROES" with Rust on guitar and vocals and Dave on bass and Mike on drums... In 1999, he joined Crazy Town, a rapcore band from Los Angeles. The band earned significant recognition with their hit single, Butterfly, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2001. Despite his success with Crazy Town, Epique quit the band as a result of various disagreements with his band mates. He formed the band Rustandthesuperheroes and began working on a four track demo CD to shop to the record labels.
In 2003, V2 Records signed Epique to work with a band called Pre)Thing. They released their debut album, 22nd Century Lifestyle, in 2004 to much radio success. Their song,"Can't Stop" was featured in two of the WWE's video games in 2004, WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW (PlayStation 2) and WWE Day of Reckoning (GameCube).
Rust Epique died of a heart attack on March 9, 2004 in his home in Las Vegas.