Loudwire reports that The Boomtown Rats‘ very own Garry Roberts has passed away recently at the age of 72. Roberts was best known for his work as the lead guitarist of the Irish rock band from 1975 to 1986.

According to the same source, the band made Roberts’ death known to the public through a Facebook post on Nov. 9 stating, “It is with very great grief that the members of The Boomtown Rats announce the death this morning of Garry Roberts, our friend and guitarist.”

The post went on to acknowledge the sympathy expressed by the remaining members of the band which include, Pete Briquette, Bob Geldof, Simon Crowe, Darren Beale, and Al.

“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. 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.” The statement concludes with, “we have known Garry since we were children and so we feel strangely adrift without him tonight.”