Dave Allen, the founding bass player for the late ‘70s English post-punk group Gang of Four, died on Saturday, April 5. He was 69.
Hugo Burnham, Gang of Four’s original drummer, announced Allen’s death on Sunday, April 6, in a statement through the band’s social media accounts.
“It is with broken yet full hearts that we share the news that Dave Allen, our old music partner, friend and brilliant musician, died on Saturday morning,” Burnham said, “He was with his family.”
Allen experienced early onset mixed dementia for some years, “which has been a heartbreaking time for his wife Paddy, his children and close friends,” added Burnham,
“Our love and thoughts are with them,” he continued.
Formed in Leeds, England, in the mid-1970s during the height of British punk rock, Gang of Four – whose original lineup consisted of Allen, Burnham, singer Jon King and guitarist Andy Gill — became known for their angular-sounding guitar rock and politically-minded confrontational lyrics.
The group’s 1979 debut album, Entertainment!, is regarded as the band’s classic and definitive record, featuring such tracks as “Damaged Goods,” “Not Great Men” and “At Home He’s a Tourist.” In 2023, Rolling Stone named Entertainment! one of its 500 greatest albums of all time.
Allen left Gang of Four in 1982 to form the group Shriekback with Barry Andrews, formerly of the British post-punk group XTC. In later years, Allen was the director of Consumer Digital Audio Services at Intel and worked in artist relations at Apple Music, Stereogum reported.
In 2004, Gang of Four announced a reunion tour featuring the original classic lineup. Both Allen and Burnham later departed the band again and followed by King in 2011, leaving Gill to carry on the Gang of Four name until his death in 2020 at age 64.
The group has been cited as an influence on future generations of acts such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and Franz Ferdinand and the Futureheads.
In 2021, King and Burnham reformed and toured as Gang of Four. Last October, the band lineup of King, Burnham, bassist Gail Greenwood and guitarist Ted Leo announced they were playing a final tour of North America beginning this spring dubbed ‘The Long Goodbye.”
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The band’s third album,1982’s Songs of the Free, was recently reissued on Matador Records.
Burnham mentioned in his post on Sunday that he and King visited Allen and his family one afternoon. “We talked and laughed for hours, sharing rich and vivid memories of good times together, adventures, careers in music, raising families, our interwoven lives spanning half a century,” Burnham recalled. “We’ve been so lucky to have had the ace of bass in our lives.”
“We know that Dave would have wanted nothing more than to step onstage with us again in Portland on our farewell U.S. tour,” Burnham continued. “But now it’s a bridge too far.”
“Goodbye old friend,” he concluded.
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