Tributes Pour In For Robin Guy

I was devastated to hear that my friend, former flatmate and best jamming buddy, Robin Guy, passed away on 8 September 8 2024. He had cancer for six years but was always so bouncy and positive when I saw him that I really believed he would get over it. I’m so sad that I was wrong.

Robin was a unique drummer with his own sense of style and slamming groove. He was also an entertainer of the Tommy Lee school of stick-spinning trickery. Anyone who saw him play live will tell you that he usually stole the show singlehandedly.

He carried on with his energetic playing and happy vibe all through his illness. 

The list of bands that were blessed with his drumming is quite ridiculous and is headlined by Faith No More, Bruce Dickinson, Sham 69, Rachel Stamp, All About Eve, Eric Martin, Sack Trick, GMT (with the late Bernie Torme and John McCoy), Tygertailz, Bay City Rollers, TM Stevens, AntiProduct, Adam Bomb and many many more.

I have so many memories of fun times together in our shared house in Ealing, onstage and in the studio, which I will cherish forever. We were a deadly rhythm section between us, and I will miss the connection that we shared.

I used to say we even made the same mistakes at the same time. Robin Guy simply cannot be replaced.

But not just me, everyone who knew him was struck by his enthusiasm for his music and general attitude to life. Tributes to him have been pouring in.

“So sorry to hear the news,” Slash said. “Robin Guy was a great drummer. May he rest in peace.” 

“I’m heartbroken to say that my amazing and dear friend Robin Guy has passed away after six years of bravely battling cancer,” David Ryder Prangley (Rachel Stamp) said. “We did so much together, making our musical dreams come true through hard work, crazy determination and a shared, unshakable belief in the power of rock ‘n’ roll music. 

“I can’t quite believe that I will never share a stage or studio with him again, and never spend hours and hours on the phone talking about all the stupid shit we go through in the music business, or feeling his warm embrace or hear his voice right in my ear, over the sound of loud music. I can’t believe I’ll never get to tell him I love him again or hear him say it back.

“I know so many people are going to be saddened by his passing. He deeply touched everyone who he met, and everyone who ever saw or heard him play drums. He was a superstar. Rock in peace, my friend.”

“Robin Guy was a relentless blast of flash and colour that never dimmed,” Ginger said. “It was a pleasure to work with him and an honour to know him.”

“I was touring with Ginger Wildheart in Clam Abuse,” Alex Kane of AntiProduct said, “and it was my first run in the UK. A band named Sack Trick opened for us. I think Chris Dale was dressed in a bear suit, and Robin Guy was dressed as a criminal. Both had face paint, and they just blew my mind. I thought, if everyone in England is THIS good and so effortlessly great, Im doomed as fuck.

“As soon as they were done with their set, I beelined over and told them they were so good I was literally depressed. This led to me being fortunate enough to get the guys on the first AntiProduct record. The talent, focus and drive of those days has stayed with me forever and every memory I have is filled with love and gratitude. Suffice as to say, not everyone in the UK had the immense fire talent and imagination of my two furrys from Sack Trick. And unless you’ve actually played with Robin, you might not understand just how great a musician he was as he made the impossible look so easy.

“Those were magical days, and I’ll never forget a single moment. Robin will be deeply missed by all who knew him, and his contributions to music and drumming will remain eternal.”

“Oh shit, that dude was the real deal,” Eric Martin (Mr. Big) said. “Killer drummer and showman. We did a gig together, me, Chris Dale, Demon Dave and Robin. Aww, this is too sad. I was looking forward to another gig or short tour next year. My condolences to his family and friends.”

“Some people have a magical aura around them,” Martin Grech, “an aura that is undeniable and unforgettable. Robins’s fierce engagement with life was thrilling to behold. His aura inspired me to give every part of myself when performing alongside him. Thanks for our chapters, Robin. I can still hear the ghost notes.”

“Robin was an extremely rare mix of sheer power, talent and showmanship,” William H Havers (BillyLiar) said. “Every story I have of him is one where he performs some ridiculous superhero-like-feat, on or off stage, with a massive grin on his face. 

“I guess the biggest superhero feat that I will always remember is that in the Summer of 2022, in the middle of some particularly gruelling chemotherapy sessions. Robin travelled to Belgium with me to record on my latest album, Crisis Actor. He put everything he had into that record, and it’s something I will never forget and will carry with me throughout my life. 

“I am honoured to have known him, to call him a friend and a mentor, someone I looked up to so much for his creativity, drive and determination and love of life itself.”

“Robin played with velocity, groove, style, precision, flash, and pure joy,” Pat Muzingo (Junkyard) said. “The three days we spent together touring in a van with our Fiasco’s, Junkyard & Langton brothers in arms back in 2017 are moments I will always cherish. Our conversations had a rhythm and intensity that only fellow drummers could understand. It felt like we had been friends forever. I will miss my friend.”

“Robin Guy is, quite simply, the world’s greatest showman,” Itch from The King Blues said. “Kind, funny and full of over-excitement at everything life has to offer. That he was one of the world’s greatest drummers comes secondary to his spirit, his integrity and his spark. A true one of a kind.”

“We are all shocked and saddened by the untimely passing of Robin Guy on Sunday,” Sham 69 said. “Robin was truly a talented drummer and showman and was the engine room behind Sham 69 for over ten years.

We would like to offer our sincere and heartfelt condolences to his wife, Jessica, and all his family and friends. He will be greatly missed by us all.

RIP Robin.”

Corin Hardy – Film Director And Robin’s Brother:

“Robin possessed such a unique energy of life and he thrived off putting a lot of that energy into playing music, finding rhythm in everything that lay around him. Thrumming out groove-laden finger rhythms on the steering wheel during a long car journey to Cornwall, tinkling dainty fills with knives and forks on crockery during a family meal or whacking out an all-night beat in the branches of a tree at a music festival, but most of all, when he was comfortably ensconced in his suit of armour that was his drum kit. 

“Anyone who was lucky enough to see Robin perform at one of the thousands of live shows he has played, bashing the hell out of it in the most breathtaking and passionate fashion, knew that he was born to drum in the purest sense of it. A magician with that wild rhythm, natural, untaught and instinctive, his performance frequently elicited a kind of jaw-dropped, mass hypnosis leading to an eruption of cheers and fist-pumping in the eyes and ears of those who bore witness to his phenomenal playing.

“Robin LIVED and LOVED to DRUM and he always, even at his final gigs just over a month or so ago, gave it his 1000% everything. 

“It was and always has been his purest passion, and he brought so much pleasure to so many who experienced him play in the bands throughout his life.

“Here’s an attempt at naming a few from the top of my head: Centerfold and Hang Em High (his first bands formed at Chiddingly and Nutley Village Halls) to Ragdolls (Wales and the London Marquee), Vatican Roulette/Violent New Breed, Martin Grech (playing Wembley Arena), Rachel Stamp (all over London and the great beyond, including LA and the Triffid Nebula) All About Eve, Sack Trick (stripes in Denmark), TAT, Doom Day, Swans In Flight, The Business (including US megaTour from hell), Faith No More (on Top Of The Pops), Bruce Dickinson (Wacken Fest and Greek Amphitheatres), Control, The King Blues, Billy Liar, The Fiascos, TigerTailz, GMT (with Bernie Torme), Conspirators (from The Six Bells Pub to Coverack Bay), Bay City Rollers, Sham 69 and many more that slip my mind this morning.

“It has been comforting to see similar responses, sentiments and messages from so many of his friends and bandmates who enjoyed playing with him and sharing words and recollections not just about his incredible ability to play drums, but for his friendly, inquisitive and enthusiastic, loving character. 

“Yeah, Robin inspired so many with his eternal drive, unstoppable motivation and his energy and positivity as well as his punk rock spirit to ‘be yourself’. And it was the same from anyone he came into contact with, from his friends and music family to the folks who attended his drum clinics, to the children he taught at his own North London School of Rock where he put on eclectic end-of-year-drum concerts, complete with staging, props, lights, smoke and costume changes that only he could pass on to the young kids, creating an army of many mini-Robins in process, whilst always encouraging invaluable positivity and passion. The kids and the parents clearly loved him.

“He was my big brother, and he inspired me to be daring and nurtured me throughout my early years, introducing me and my close group of friends to so much music, bands (and movies, BMX’s, motorbikes and no small amount of mayhem along the way) that formed a lot of my character and individuality growing up, in particular our shared love of heavy music, live gigs and all that came with it.

“But also, all kinds of music genres were exciting to Robin, so long as they made him feel something and had ‘a groove’. He inspired a line in my new film which went something like ‘good music doesn’t get old, it’s only bad music that ages’. I like that.

“Robin always believed in me, encouraged and taught me so many valuable life/survival skills, hacks and hustles over the years and introduced me to many of the welcoming rock crowd that formed the community and industry surrounding him and he helped me form a sense of resilience in my own character that I have frequently relied on when times are tough. As they are today.”

A tribute show is planned for 16 November 2024 at the Forge in Camden, featuring many of Robin’s musician friends, including Sack Trick, David Ryder-Prangley, Janus Stark and the Anti-Nowhere League. An afterparty event has also been arranged at the The Dev, nearby.

Tickets to the event can be purchased from WeGotTickets.

Meanwhile, if you would like to contribute towards Robin’s costs, there is a GoFundMe page here.

But for now, just sit back and enjoy Robin’s drumming.

RIP my friend xx

Chris Dale