Crazy Town frontman Shifty Shellshock was on drugs and partying with women at a Los Angeles flophouse just days before he was found dead of a possible drug overdose, the singer’s roommate said.
The musician – born Seth Binzer – rented a small 25-square-foot room on the top floor of a dilapidated two-story Edwardian house in LA’s Koreatown neighborhood.
Jason Roberts, 50, rented the room next to Binzer, but didn’t know he was a once-famous singer.
He said he saw Binzer bringing in his belongings, including several bags and other personal items, about a week ago.
DailyMail.com spotted lighter injectable medications and Narcan nasal spray among Binzer’s belongings.
Narcan – a brand name of the drug Naloxone – is used to reverse opioid overdoses.
Crazy Town frontman Seth Binzer – who went by the stage name Shifty Shellshock – was found unconscious on June 24 in a small room he rented in a flophouse in Los Angeles’ Koreatown district.
Artist Jason Roberts, 50, rented the room next to Seth Binzer. Roberts told DailyMail.com that Binzer was ‘already gone’ when emergency services arrived at the house
Roberts said he “got a few cigarettes” from Binzer, who told him he had to rent the small room to get away from his girlfriend.
“He said he was having problems with his girlfriend or whatever and that’s why he was here,” Roberts told DailyMail.com exclusively.
“He said he fought with her and the police went to that house. He had to go.’
However, the Crazy Town singer was visited by a crowd of beautiful girls during his five-day performance at the rental.
“He definitely had a few girls there,” Roberts said. ‘One looked like a German (woman) with glitter all over his face, so at least he was having a good time. But he looked like he hadn’t slept in days.”
Binzer’s belongings were left in his rented room in the dilapidated 1913 Edwardian house
Roberts, an artist, said he could constantly hear movements coming from Binzer’s room. He said the singer was always “shaking” and that he was taking medication that “kept him moving.”
The roommate said he was unaware anything was wrong until police showed up at their front door on Monday, June 24.
DailyMail.com confirmed that a 911 call was made at 12:04 a.m. Monday about a possible cardiac arrest and overdose at the home.
Roberts said it was the property manager who found the singer unconscious on the mattress, which was on the floor.
The 911 dispatcher instructed the caller to perform CPR on Binzer until emergency personnel arrived on scene within four minutes, LA Fire Department officials told DailyMail.com.
Binzer’s room had a small window, but the sunlight was blocked by heavy curtains
Binzer told his roommate that he rented the room to get away from a ‘girlfriend’
No details are available on whether LA fire personnel administered CPR to Binzer, but he was not transported to a hospital, officials said.
“He was gone and dead by the time they arrived [police] I’m here,” Roberts said. ‘I don’t know how long he sat there like that, but I didn’t hear anything coming from that room for a while, because I heard him messing around in there the other days.
“I had no idea what was going on until I came out of my room and there were three officers standing there.”
An autopsy was performed on the 49-year-old, but the cause and manner of death were “deferred” pending further testing, LA County Department of Medical Examiner officials told DailyMail.com.
According to TMZ, the death is now being ruled a possible overdose after drug paraphernalia and a lighter were found near Binzer’s body.
Seth Binzer rented one of the rooms in the two-story Los Angeles home, located in a sketchy part of the Koreatown neighborhood
DailyMail.com also saw that the items, including the Narcan spray and other injectable medications, were left on a plastic dresser used by Binzer.
LAPD officials told DailyMail.com that their investigators are also awaiting autopsy and toxicology results to determine whether the case warrants a possible criminal investigation.
The small back room in the four-bedroom apartment where Binzer spent his last days was cramped and dingy, with scratches all over the dirty, off-white walls.
The house, built in 1913, had no ventilation or air conditioning. Temperatures reached the high 80s to mid 90s in the LA area the afternoon Binzer was found dead.
On Wednesday, there was still a small fan on his bed. Nail clippers, rubber shoes, a lighter and a hat were still neatly stacked on a shelf in one part of the dimly lit room.
There was also a cigarette butt on the shelf next to the Narcan spray.
Roberts said he pays about $700 to rent his corner room, but his living space is much larger than the one Binzer had lived in briefly.
The Crazy Town singer told Roberts that he had only paid to rent the room for a few days, but that he planned to stay there for at least another week.
Seth ‘Shifty’ Binzer seen in a May 2010 photo at the Prince of Persia video game launch in West Hollywood, California. During his brief stay at the LA house, the rocker had a bevy of beautiful young female visitors, according to one of his housemates.
Binzer’s cause of death is currently listed as ‘deferred’ as no official confirmation can be made until the toxicology report results are returned.
“Everyone here is pretty cool, but every now and then you get some partiers here. But people here don’t mess around. He [Binzer] always seemed ‘awake’, if you know what I mean,” Roberts told DailyMail.com.
‘I had no idea he was famous until I found out this morning. I didn’t believe it until I found his videos and said, “Damn! That’s him!”
Crazy Town is best known for the 2000 hit “Butterfly,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. It was also number one in several other countries, including Austria, Denmark, and Norway.
The group’s debut album, The Gift of Game, sold more than 1.5 million copies.
‘Butterfly’ was even recently sampled by singer GAYLE, which was featured in the worldwide hit Barbie movie.
Roommate Jason Roberts said Seth Binzer most likely painted this bleeding heart on his bedroom wall before he died
When he found out his former roommate was once in a famous rap-rock band, Roberts said he wasn’t surprised.
“Things are always happening in Hollywood,” the painter said. “If you dance next to the sun, you will be burned.”
Binzer was open about his struggles with drug addiction. He appeared on the reality TV show ‘Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew” in the hope that he could get help for his cocaine addiction.
He had admitted to using both the powder form of the drug and crack cocaine.
Just below the small window in Binzer’s rented room, a red bleeding heart was painted on the wall.
“He must have done that because it wasn’t there before,” Roberts said. ‘When you play with fire, what do you expect? I feel sorry for the man. Addiction sucks.”