Steve New the Rich Kids guitarist passed away on Monday 24th May.

Phil Singleton has written a superb obituary on his excellent God Save The Sex Pistols website.

Well known local T-shirt entrepreneur and mainstay of the punk scene Paul Hebden aka ‘Hebby’ was found dead at his home on Saturday 23rd January 2010. There’s a report in the Sunday Sun.

It’s well known that Hebby hadn’t been having the best of times lately: he’d been made redundant from the Post Office, was having a legal dispute with a neighbour that preventing him from building an outhouse to resume his T-shirt printing business and his drinking had become excessive.  The last time I saw him I asked if he was now an alcoholic and he admitted he was.

It appears that after several recent threats to commit suicide, he finally did. For someone who always seemed so chipper noone took these threats seriously.

Hebby was well known in the local punk scene, a larger than life character that was never short of an opinion, he never failed to remind everyone that he was the first person in the north-east into The Misfits, a claim which was true. While the rest of us were still listening to UK punk in the very early 80s Hebby had found and championed the USA punk scene and avidly collected bands like: Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Government Issue, DOA etc. to much scorn, but eventually he won us over and was proven right.

A friend for 30 years, Hebby worked as a T-shirt printer for companies and then himself. He printed shirts for many of the bands I worked with including The Dickies, Man or Astroman? and more recently Subway Sect.

He will be much missed by me and all who knew him.

Lux Interior of The Cramps

Lux Interior, the founding member of garage punk band the Cramps, has died aged 62. Interior, whose real name was Erick Lee Purkhiser, passed away on 4 February at Glendale Memorial Hospital in California. He had suffered from a previously existing heart condition.

Interior was the theatrical, macabre frontman of cult punk-rock group the Cramps. He founded the band in 1973 with his wife, Poison Ivy, whose real name is Kristy Wallace, and quickly became a staple of the New York punk scene. The band’s music fused their love of horror B-movies with rockabilly and surf rock, and their influence can be heard in bands such as the White Stripes, My Bloody Valentine and the Horrors.

The Cramps recorded their debut EP, Gravest Hits, in 1979 and continued touring and recording, albeit with a revolving lineup, until 2004. Interior and Poison Ivy were the only constant members of the group. They were notorious for their flamboyant, fetishistic live shows, and once infamously played a show for patients at Napa State Mental Hospital in Sacramento.

False rumours that Interior had died of a heroin overdose circulated in 1987, with fans sending wreaths to his home after hearing the news. “At first, I thought it was kind of funny, but then it started to give me a creepy feeling,” the singer told the Los Angeles Times. “We sell a lot of records, but somehow just hearing that you’ve sold so many records doesn’t hit you quite as much as when a lot of people call you up and are obviously really broken-up because you’ve died.”

Sadly, a statement confirming his death earlier this week is no hoax. He is survived by Wallace, his wife of 37 years. A statement from the Cramps’ media representatives reads: “Lux has been an inspiration and influence to millions of artists and fans around the world. He and wife Poison Ivy’s contributions with the Cramps have had an immeasurable impact on modern music. He is a rare icon who will be missed dearly.”

Jez Bird lead singer with mod revival band The Lambrettas passed away on Wednesday following a long battle with cancer at the age of 50.

MINISTRY bassist Paul Raven was found dead yesterday (Saturday, October 20) in a private home in a small French village on the Swiss border after suffering an apparent heart attack. Raven (who is also known for his work with NEON HEARTS, KILLING JOKE and PRONG) was in Geneva working with French recording artists TREPONEM PAL on their new release alongside drummer Ted Parsons (PRONG) and members of THE YOUNG GODS.

Born in Wolverhampton, UK on January 16, 1961, Paul Vincent Raven established himself with his work in the seminal post-punk/industrial act KILLING JOKE after he replaced the band’s original bassist in 1982, recording and touring with the group throughout its most commercially successful period, performing on “Fire Dances”, “Night Time” and “Brighter than a Thousand Suns”. Throughout his extensive career, Raven participated in other collaborations, including PRONG, MURDER, INC., PIGFACE and GODFLESH. Most recently, Raven was nominated for a 2006 Grammy for “Best Metal Performance” for his work with MINISTRY’s Al Jourgensen, with whom he had begun collaborating in late 2005 on the MINISTRY release “Rio Grande Blood”. After a 2006 world tour with the group, Raven helped Jourgensen and PRONG’s Tommy Victor pen the latest MINISTRY CD, “The Last Sucker”, which is also the band’s final studio release.

Commented KILLING JOKE keyboardist Reza Udhin: “Paul was a very amazing man who I loved and trusted very much. He always had great ideas, ventures and always looked out for me as if I were a little brother to him.

“I was very fortunate to be in contact with him several times in his last week and I had great conversations with him, we laughed and joked, which was an integral part of his personality.

“We had so much more to do, especially with his own personal project MOB RESEARCH, which I know he was extremely excited about.

“I don’t know what more to say, as this is such an unexpected happening for me, as we were only talking a short time ago. I can’t believe he is gone.

“Paul will be greatly missed by music fans, friends and mostly his family; his bands will miss him terribly. He was a great man and a unique bass player who has died at such a tragically early age.

“Love to you, brother. I miss you.”