Crazy Town frontman Shifty Shellshock was on a drug bender and partying with women at a flophouse in Los Angeles just days before he was found dead from a possible drug overdose, the singer’s roommate has said.
The musician – born Seth Binzer – was renting a tiny room less than 60 square feet on the top floor of a two-story, rundown Craftsman-style home in a gang-infested area of 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 move in his stuff about a week ago, including several bags and other personal items.
DailyMail.com saw a 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 front man Seth Binzer – who went by the stage name Shifty Shellshock – was found unresponsive on June 24 in a tiny room he rented inside a flophouse in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles
Artist Jason Roberts, 50, rented the room next to Seth Binzer. Roberts told DailyMail.com Binzer was ‘already gone’ by the time emergency crews showed up at the home
Roberts said he had ‘bummed’ a few cigarettes off Binzer, who told him he had to rent the tiny 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 exclusively told DailyMail.com.
‘He said he had been fighting with her and the cops were going to that house. He had to get away.’
The Crazy Town lead vocalist, however, had a bevy of pretty girls visit him during his five-day say at the rental.
‘He definitely had some girls in there,’ Roberts said. ‘One looked like a German (woman) with sparkles all over their face, so at least he had a good time. But he did look like he hadn’t slept for days.’
Binzer’s belongings was left inside his rented room inside the rundown 1913 Edwardian home
Roberts, who is an artist, said he could hear non-stop movement from Binzer’s room at all hours. He said the singer was always ‘shaking’ and appeared to be on some drugs that ‘kept him moving’.
The roommate said he was not aware something was wrong until law enforcement showed up at their front door on Monday, June 24.
DailyMail.com confirmed a 911 call was made at 12:04pm Monday concerning 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 laid out on the floor.
The 911 dispatcher instructed the caller to conduct CPR on Binzer until emergency personnel arrived at the scene in less than four minutes, LA Fire Department officials told DailyMail.com.
Binzer’s room had a tiny window but the sunlight was blocked by heavy curtains
Binzer told his roommate he rented the room to get away from a ‘girlfriend’
There are were no details available on whether LA Fire personnel administered CPR on Binzer but he was not transported to a hospital, officials said.
‘He was gone and dead by the time they [police] got here,’ Roberts said. ‘I don’t know how long he was in there like that, but I didn’t hear anything coming from that room for a while because I would hear him fussing around there the other days.
‘I had no idea what was going on until I came out of my room and there were three cops there.’
An autopsy was conducted on the 49-year-old but the cause and manner of death was ‘deferred’ pending further tests, LA County Department of Medical Examiner officials told DailyMail.com.
The death is now being looked at as a possible overdose after drug paraphernalia and a lighter were found near Binzer’s body, according to TMZ.
Seth Binzer rented one of the rooms in the two-story Los Angeles home located in a sketchy part of the Koreatown area
DailyMail.com also saw the items, including the Narcan spray and other injectable medications, left on top of a shelf just above a plastic dresser container used by Binzer.
LAPD officials told DailyMail.com their investigators are also waiting for the autopsy and toxicology results to determine whether the case calls for a possible criminal investigation.
The tiny back room inside the four-bedroom apartment unit where Binzer spent his last days was stuffy and grimy, with scratch marks all over the dirty off-white walls.
The home, built in 1913, had no ventilation or an air conditioner. Temperatures hit the high 80s to mid-90s in the LA area the afternoon Binzer was found dead.
On Wednesday, a tiny fan was still on top of his bed. A nail clipper, rubber shoes, a lighter and a hat were still neatly piled on a shelf in one area of the poorly lit room.
A cigarette butt also was left on the shelf next to the Narcan spray.
Roberts said he pays about $700 to rent his corner room, but his living area is much larger compared to the one Binzer had briefly occupied.
The Crazy Town singer told Roberts he had only paid to rent the room for a few days but he was planning to stay there at least another week.
Seth ‘Shifty’ Binzer seen in a May 2010 picture at the launch of the Prince of Persia video game in West Hollywood, California. During his short stay at the LA home, the rocker had a bevy of beautiful young female visitors, according to one of his roommates
Binzer’s cause of death is currently listed as ‘deferred’ as no official confirmation can be made until the results of the toxicology report are returned
‘Everyone here is pretty cool, but once in a while you get some partiers in here. But people here don’t mess around. He [Binzer] seemed always “awake”, if you know what I’m sayin’,’ Roberts told DailyMail.com.
‘I had no idea he was famous until this morning when I found out. I didn’t believe it until I found his videos, and I went, “Damn! That is him!”‘
Crazy Town is best known for the 2000 hit song ‘Butterfly’, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. It also was 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 world-wide hit Barbie movie.
When he found out his former roommate was once in a famous rap-rock band, Roberts said he wasn’t surprised.
‘Shit happens in Hollywood all time,’ the painter said. ‘If you dance next to the sun, you’re gonna get burned.’
Roommate Jason Roberts said Seth Binzer more than likely painted this bleeding heart on his bedroom wall before he died
Binzer was open about his struggles with drug addiction. He appeared in the reality TV show ‘Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew’ with the hopes he could get help for his cocaine addiction.
He had admitted to using both the powder form of the drug as well as crack cocaine.
Just below the tiny window in Binzer’s rented room was a red bleeding heart painted on the wall.
‘He must’ve done that because that wasn’t there before,’ Roberts said. ‘If you play with fire, what do you expect? I feel sorry for the guy. Addiction sucks.’