BANG Showbiz – Nov 9, 2022 / 8:22 pm | Story: 395481
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Boomtown Rats founding member Garry Roberts has died at the age of 72.
The guitarist passed away on Wednesday morning (11.09.22), with the band describing him as an “old friend and great guitarist”.
In a statement posted on Facebook, the band said: “It is with a very heavy heart that the members of Boomtown Rats announce the death this morning of Garry Roberts.”
The guitarist helped to form the band in the 1970s, and the remaining members – which includes Bob Geldof, bassist Pete Briquette and drummer Simon Crowe – have all extended their “deepest sympathy to his family and friends”.
Their statement continued: “On a clear spring evening in 1975, in a pub in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, Garry became THE founding member of what turned out to be a great rock ‘n’ roll band, driven largely by that sound of his.
“A storm of massive considered noise that punched out from his overtaxed amplifiers and which animated not just the rest of the group but audiences he played to around the world.”
The band hailed Roberts as the member who “summed up the sense of who The Rats are”.
The group – whose hits include ‘Rat Trap’, ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ and ‘Banana Republic’ – also confessed to feeling “strangely adrift without him”.
Their statement explained: “For fans he was The Legend – and he was. For us he was Gazzer, the guy who summed up the sense of who The Rats are.
“We have known Garry since we were children and so we feel strangely adrift without him tonight. Safe travels Gaz. Thanks for everything mate.”
