Austin Musician Jon Pettis Passes Away in Early Morning House Fire

An errant malfunctioning power strip sparked a massive blaze this morning in the East Austin home of local band Bankrupt and the Borrowers. Founding member Jon Pettis died in the fire.

In an interview with Austinist earlier this year, it was revealed that Pettis, who went by the moniker "Baggage," was born in Texas and raised in France for the first nine years of his life. His family later moved to Colorado, California, and eventually Massachusetts, where the band formed.

The band settled in Austin in late 2006, as they describe it, "sleeping in their van and eating Thanksgiving at the Dirty Dog Saloon." They chose Austin, they told us, because it's "warm, relatively cheap, great music scene, the girls are hot, the food's pretty good, the drugs are kind of shitty but the whiskey's kind of cheap."

Fans and friends alike have flocked to their Myspace page to offer condolences to a man who, by all accounts, was one hell of a guy. In his final tagline on his personal Myspace page, Pettis wrote, "Never go to bed angry." He last logged into the account yesterday.

Bankrupt and the Borrowers have a full schedule of shows booked through the fall, including an appearance at November's Fun Fun Fun Fest and back-to-back gigs this weekend at Club Deville and The Mohawk. We'll keep you posted about these.