Kenny Morris, the unique drummer for Siouxsie and the Banshees, has died. He was 68.
Information of Morris’ passing was introduced Thursday (Jan. 15) by music journalist and longtime good friend John Robb within the publication Louder Than Struggle. An actual date and reason for loss of life weren’t disclosed at press time.
“Kenny was a good friend of ours, and it was all the time a pleasure to see and hang around with him when visiting Cork in Eire, the place he had been dwelling,” Robb wrote in a prolonged tribute. “He was candy, articulate, creative and interesting firm and his lovely eccentricity was cute.”
He continued, “He would flip up in a go well with and a gown with open handcuffs on one hand and the following time in a very totally different but completely created bricolage of favor, while nonetheless dressing within the suave confrontation of the 1976 punk period that he was such a key a part of.”
Robb famous that Morris had his “ups and downs” earlier than transferring to Eire in 1993 and closed the tribute with a private message to the late drummer.
“It was nice to know you, Kenny and we’ll miss your candy eccentricity and lengthy WhatsApp messages and your artwork and your mild presence in a merciless world,” he wrote.
Born in Essex, England, in 1957 to Irish dad and mom, Morris studied high quality artwork and filmmaking at North East London Polytechnic and Camberwell Faculty of Arts and Crafts. He briefly joined his good friend Sid Vicious’s band the Flowers of Romance in 1976, in keeping with Robb.
Morris grew to become the unique drummer for Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1977, a 12 months after vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steven Severin shaped the band in London. He had first seen them carry out reside in September 1976, with Intercourse Pistols’ Vicious on drums.
“Once I turned up for the audition, there was some drum equipment there, and I used to be fiddling round making an attempt to determine how one can even set the factor up when Nils Stevenson, the Banshees supervisor, got here as much as me: ‘You’re presupposed to be a f—king drummer, aren’t ya?’” Morris recalled in a 2023 interview with Tripe + Drisheen. “I took an on the spot dislike to him. However by the top of the audition, we had eight songs.”
Morris recorded two albums with Siouxsie and the Banshees — The Scream (1978) and Be part of Palms (1979) — and performed on their debut single “Hong Kong Backyard,” which reached No. 7 on the Official U.Okay. Singles Chart.
He abruptly left the group throughout their 1979 tour supporting Be part of Palms, following an argument throughout a file signing. Guitarist John McKay departed on the identical time. Morris was succeeded by former Slits drummer Peter “Budgie” Clarke, whereas McKay’s position was taken over by the Treatment’s Robert Smith.
After leaving the group, Morris continued drumming, directed a number of brief movies and pursued portray and drawing. Previous to his loss of life, he was performing with the post-punk goth band Shrine of the Vampyre and had reportedly accomplished a memoir scheduled for publication later this 12 months, in keeping with the New York Put up.
