Hit The Lights guitarist Kyle Maite has died at the age of 37.
The Ohio pop-punk band shared the news on their social media pages on Friday (September 23), writing: “It is with the heaviest hearts we at HTL have to announce the passing of our brother, friend and guitarist Kyle Maite.
“He left us on Tuesday morning [September 20], and everything is different now. Our lives have lost a glow. He is survived by his amazing wife and two beautiful children, and it’s absolutely unbearable to think about life without him here.”
The statement continued: “We’re all a little lost right now, and we could type a novel of our thoughts and feelings, but it wouldn’t make a difference. He’s gone and all we have is each other to carry on the light he brought to every life he touched.
“Kyle was the best. A loyal, loving, dependable, rock solid human with a heart of gold. We will never get over this, and it’s hard to imagine a day when we won’t cry. We look forward to hugs and hangs and tears and laughs as we remember Kyle – and we’ll try to be thankful that we had the time we did with him.”
Hit The Lights added: “It is a massive loss for so many, and our hearts and thoughts are with the rest of his friends and family, who we know are grieving as deeply as we are. Kyle Maite Forever.”
The group have set up two GoFundMe pages in Maite’s honour – one is raising money to cover funeral costs, and the other will help the late musician’s family with “any expenses [they] may endure during this difficult time”.
“Once we have some time to regroup and mourn, we will be making future announcements,” Hit The Lights told their fans. “Thank you for all the love amazing times we were able to share with you and Kyle. Love, HTL.”
According to SNBC13, Maite “died unexpectedly in a tragic truck accident”. He had been a linehaul driver for Old Dominion’s Columbus Ohio terminal when not working with Hit The Lights, the outlet notes.
Hit The Lights formed in 2003, and have since released four studio albums: ‘This Is A Stick Up… Don’t Make It A Murder’ (2006), ‘Skip School, Start Fights’ (2008), ‘Invicta’ (2012) and ‘Summer Bones’ (2015).
A six-track acoustic EP titled ‘Just to Get Through to You’ came out in 2016.