Dave Allen, the bassist who played with Gang of Four in their heyday, died at home with his family on Saturday, April 5, the band announced on social media. While no cause of death was given, the band said Allen had been living with early-onset dementia for several years. He was 69 years old.
David Geoffrey Allen grew up in a working-class family in the North English town of Kendal, later moving to Leeds and playing in the local music scene. He joined Jon King, Andy Gill, and Hugo Burnham in the early days of Gang of Four, replacing original bassist Dave Wolfson in time to work on the band’s 1979 debut, Entertainment! The album’s spartan arrangement of post-punk and funk elements, paired with a lyric sheet full of witty barbs that critiqued and demystified consumer capitalism, made the band a cult sensation, beloved by critics, art punks, and indie-rockers for decades to come. Allen remained with the band for second album Solid Gold, a record that made waves in the United States and secured their enduring legacy as a major influence on the likes of R.E.M., Nirvana, and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
After Solid Gold’s release, in 1981, tensions within the group—as well as issues with exhaustion and drug use—prompted Allen to part ways with his bandmates during a tour. The same year, he formed Shriekback with XTC’s Barry Andrews. It was the first in a series of Allen side projects (later including the Elastic Purejoy, Low Pop Suicide, King Swamp, and Faux Hoax) that preceded his eventual return to Gang of Four for a 2004 reunion tour. He left again soon after—there was no love lost between Allen and the late Andy Gill, who long butted heads about issues stemming from the band’s early days—and entered a career in the music technology sector that landed him positions at Beats Music and Apple Music.
In their statement remembering Allen, surviving Gang of Four members Hugo Burnham and Jon King recalled a recent afternoon with Allen and his family. “We talked and laughed for hours, sharing rich and vivid memories of good times together,” they wrote. “Adventures, careers in music, raising families, our interwoven lives spanning half a century. We’ve been so very lucky to have had the Ace of Bass in our lives.”
Burnham and King continued, “We know that Dave would have wanted nothing more than to step onstage with us again in Portland on our farewell US tour. But it’s now a bridge too far. Goodbye, Old Friend.”
