Santa Cruz says goodbye to Oliver Tree in emotional hometown celebration 

At the time of this writing it’s been less than 12 hours since Oliver Tree’s Celebration of Life at the UC Santa Cruz Quarry Amphitheater and I’m still trying to take it all in. Billed as “A Night to Remember. A Legend Forever,” the three-hour show was an amalgamation of laughter, tears, stories, videos, fake ads, fake characters, real celebrities and plenty of music. 

But what else would one expect from an artist who in 12 years would create three characters, play some of the world’s biggest festivals and earn millions of fans across the globe all by a daily dedication to his craft? 

Hosted by YouTube podcaster and comedian Ethan Klein – Tree’s  longtime friend and collaborator who often played the musician’s arch nemesis – the Celebration of Life was set up as a quasi-roast, with friends and family sharing stories and jokes about Tree. It also featured speeches by many of Tree’s childhood and celebrity friends, including longtime friend and bandmate Casey Mattson, DJs Diplo, Whethan and Getter, and internet celebrity and wrestler Logan Paul. 

“Oliver was a man of many talents and a man of many haircuts,” Paul said at the event with a laugh. Throughout his speech Paul jokingly accused Tree of being on Ozempic in a nod to their internet “feud,” where Tree would accuse Paul of being on performance enhancing drugs. 

“Jokes aside, Oliver was everyone’s best friend,” Paul continued. “He was an adventurer with an incomparable zest for life with the ultimate ability to make anyone feel seen or heard. Oliver is a generational artist whose legacy and music will last forever.”

For dental grill maker to the stars Alligator Jesus, one thing about Tree’s friendship stands out. 

“The authenticity of it,” he said when asked. Alligator Jesus explained to Lookout that Tree would often call him at 3 a.m., telling him to pack a bag for an adventure. Over five years, he would travel with Tree all over the world, from Cuba to Tokyo. “Since I didn’t work with him on music or anything on social media, we could just be ourselves.

While it was also streamed live on Tree’s YouTube channel (which already has 1.5 million views asof this writing), the 2,800-capacity venue was packed with friends, family and fans lucky enough to get tickets. Links were sent out by Tree’s management prior to the show initially to friends, then to anyone who had previously purchased tickets to his “Love You Madly, Hate You Badly World’s First World Tour” prior to the artist’s death on June 14. 

It drew fans like siblings Sara and Matthew Gonzalez, who had tour tickets and drove from Orange County to attend. Prior to the show, they paid their respects at the musician’s grave at Evergreen Cemetery. 

“We felt like we lost a friend,” said Sara Gonzalez. “We never met him personally but there was that deep of a connection to his music.” 

Her brother agreed. 

“His music was about being yourself,” Matthew Gonzalez said. “Being true to yourself no matter who you were. The message at the end of his ‘Ugly is Beautiful’ Tour was ‘No matter how weird you or how weird you think you look, you’re beautiful.’” 

Born Oliver Tree Nickell, the Santa Cruz artist seemed almost destined to be a star. From an early age, he showed musical talent with a penchant for creating characters with lots of humor. Saturday’s memorial featured a cornucopia of videos from his childhood showing him goofing around and hamming it up for the camera.

When he was 13, the death of his cousin left a huge impact on Tree’s life, sending him down a dark path of danger and drug use. However, after an almost tragic family trip to Burning Man when he was 17 years old, Tree quit drugs and dedicated his life to his art. 

In 2011 he performed dubstep under the name Kryph, playing festivals such as Wobbleland and opening for major acts like Skrillex and collaborated with longtime friend Getter. Two years later he then changed his persona to Tree and wrote more trippy, experimental, almost esoteric music. He was quickly signed to indie label R&S Records and released his debut EP Demons which featured his transcendent cover of Radiohead’s “Karma Police.” 

In 2016, he was signed to Atlantic Records shortly after the release of a co-collaborated song with longtime friend and deejay Whethan. At the time, Tree was attending college at the California Institute of the Arts, where he also executed his plan to make himself into a living meme.

He realized even with all the talent in the world, artists can still fall through the cracks in this constantly online world. So he donned a bowl cut, wore his mom’s 1980’s purple and pink ski jacket and created his Turbo persona. His first Turbo Vine video received millions of views, which just made the artist push further. 

Over the years, he also created his cowboy character, Shawney Bravo, and his fashion designer persona, Cornelius Cummings. Each of his three characters were represented at the Quarry with lifesize dolls in wooden coffins that would be taken away by friends dressed as pallbearers throughout the evening. 

“Looking back now, I’m thinking he may have had multiple personality disorder and I didn’t get him the help he needed,” his mother Christine Nickell jokingly told the crowd. 

On June 14, Tree was tragically killed in a mid-air helicopter collision in Brazil while on  his “World’s First World Tour.”

From an early age, it was his goal to perform on every continent in the world. Over the last two years, he lived out of his fake Gucci bag with minimal recording equipment and recorded music on all seven continents (yes, even Antarctica, which he did twice!). 

“One of the worst things about losing him is not being able to look at his continued evolution for the next 20 or 30 years,” local journalist and radio host John Malkin told Lookout. A longtime family friend, Malkin was the first person to interview Oliver Tree in 2011.

“Being able to say, ‘Remember those first 10 years?’– which just happened – and then being able to say, ‘Wow and look what you evolved into the next 10.” 

For local musician Rick Walker, who along with his brother Bill taught Tree music and digital recording, Tree’s life left an impact on everyone that listened. 

“His message was ‘You’re beautiful and valuable’ and he put that all over the world,” Walker told Lookout. “It was the last thing he said on stage in Brazil and I find that so f—ing inspiring.” 

As per Tree’s wishes, the Nickell family founded the Dr. Oliver Tree’s Extremely Epic Grant For Baby Geniuses, a nonprofit to help young musicians. His mother also announced there will be a museum established to showcase all of Tree’s many props, costumes and other memorabilia, but no further details were given.

“In the years ahead,” she said. “I look forward to hearing the stories of how Oliver’s grant helped launch the careers of emerging artists.”

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