Machine Gun Kelly (MGK). recently shared in his Instagram stories an update about his longtime drummer, Rook, who, according to what MGK wrote, “met the reaper and decided it wasn’t his time.” Here’s what happened to him.
The full caption on MGK’s Instagram story post said the following: “My brother finally back! With an iron leg, iron teeth, iron heart. @rookxx met the reaper and decided it wasn’t his time. It’s been one year without you with us on drums. I missed you so much … “
Rook’s 2024 bike accident
In case you forgot, in May last year, a Machine Gun Kelly fan page shared in an X post that, according to Rook’s father, he’d been in a bike accident and had broken bones that would take about two months to heal. Since then, Rook has been absent from behind MGK’s kit.
mgk (machine gun kelly) via his IG story:
my little brother is real life iron man
god got his hands on you
send some prayers up for his recoveryrook’s father wrote on his fb that rook “was in a bike accident &he’s doin ok. He has some broken bones&the next 2 months of healing.” pic.twitter.com/exniVkZCvm
— mgkmagic (@mgkmagic) May 24, 2024
The post on an MGK fan page sharing the news of Rook’s accident quoted an MGK IG story post, which said, “my little brother is real life iron man god got his hands on you send some prayers up for his recovery.” Rook and MGK started playing together when Rook was 17, and the two musicians had played together for over 10 years when Rook had to step back to recover. (Over the years, Blink 182’s Travis Barker has also played drums for MGK on occasion.)
It took more than two months for Rook to be ready to play drums again, as his father suggested. But with MGK’s Instagram story post, it seemed Rook had finally returned and the news was confirmed on X, where another MGK fan page stated:
Rook is back on the drums
— MGK MOB XX (@machinegunkasi) February 18, 2025
Rook’s 2024 bike accident wasn’t the musician’s first health scare, either. Three years earlier, Rook was robbed by two guys who jumped out of a car and assaulted him, and he was hospitalized, according to Kerrang. During the confrontation, Rook was also hit by a car, injuring his foot and arm. Rook wrote on social media at that time, “Don’t worry I’ll bounce back.” The robbery was likely what this comment referred to on the MGK fan page post announcing Rook’s return: “Dang. This poor dude. His body has been through so much.”
Rook has had a lot of hardships and terrible things happen to him. But as mentioned, Rook and MGK have played music together for a long time, and based on a 2015 MGK Facebook post, Kelly’s used to his friend and musical collaborator’s “crazy” life.
On Rook’s birthday that year, MGK wrote, “to my little brother @rook419 we’ve been touring the world together since u were 17, and u get crazier every day…i know u always say ur gonna petition to have me locked up in a looney bin but this picture says it all — next trip to the bin we’re puttin u in happy birthday brother.”
MGK and his band celebrated Rook’s return at a London 02 performance just a few days after MGK’s first Instagram story post announcing Rook was back. MGK shared an Instagram post of the performance captioned in part, ” … [T]his performance of ‘bloody valentine’ is the band’s first performance of 2025 with everyone together again after Rook’s bike accident!” Here’s to many more years of MGK and Rook making music together.
