Of Mice & Men include teenage fan with terminal cancer on new album

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By ( Metal Hammer ) published

Orange County metalcore outfit let 14-year-old Cassy sit in on studio sessions

Of Mice & Men
Of Mice & Men (Image credit: Getty)

Of Mice & Men have surprised a teenage fan with terminal brain cancer by including her on their next album.

Cassy, 14, was diagnosed with the fatal condition in 2014 – and was told in January that she possibly had only six months left to live.

But the Orange County outfit have included a recording of her clapping to the beat of one of their new songs on the record – and let her be the first to hear the release in full.

A post on Of Mice & Men’s Instagram reads: “Today will forever be engraved as a very special day in our hearts. A precious, strong and defiant young lady named Cassy walked into our lives and forever changed them.

“The relationship and history between Cassy, Austin Carlile and the band has been a rich one over the years. Today was a much needed day for Cassy, her mom, cousin and family, as was it for all involved.

“Today was a day to forget all the stresses and problems of the world and to be surrounded by nothing but pure love, happiness and joy. Today Cassy was disease-free – today Cassy was ‘living the dream.’”

The band recently released a live video for their track Feels Like Forever from their upcoming package Live At Brixton, which is released on May 27 via Rise Records. It’s available for pre-order now.

Of Mice & Men have a run of dates scheduled throughout the summer, including appearances at the Slam Dunk Festivals later this month.

A photo posted by on

Of Mice & Men: Live At Brixton tracklist

  1. Public Service Announcement
  2. Glass Hearts
  3. Broken Generation
  4. O.G. Loko
  5. Let Live
  6. You Make Me Sick
  7. This One’s For You
  8. Feels Like Forever
  9. Bones Exposed
  10. Would You Still Be There
  11. Another You
  12. Identity Disorder
  13. Second & Sebring
  14. The Depths
  15. You’re Not Alone

Of Mice And Men tour 2016

May 28: Leeds Slam Dunk, UK
May 29: Birmingham Slam Dunk, UK
May 30: Hatfield Slam Dunk, UK
Jun 03-05: Nuremberg Rock Im Park, Germany
Jul 15-17: Bridgeview Chicago Open Air, IL
Jun 19: Albuquerque Isleta Amphitheater, NM
Jun 25: Dallas Gexa Energy Pavillion, TX
Jun 26: Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, TX
Jul 08: Hartford Xfinity Theatre, CT
Jul 09: Holmdel PNC Bank Arts Center, NJ
Jul 12: Cincinnati Riverbend Music Center, OH
Jul 13: Indianapolis Klipsch Music Center, IN
Jul 23: Syracuse Lakeview Amphitheater, NY
Jul 02: Bristow Jiffy Lube Live, VA
Jul 29: Detroit DTE Energy Music Theatre, MI
Jul 30: Pittsburgh First Niagara Pavilion, PA
Aug 04: St. Louis Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, MO

Of Mice & Men release The Depths live clip

Christina O'Neill

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.