Written by: Alex Green

Brad Kent of The Avengers has died.

The musician was admitted to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, where he later died of complications from pneumonia.

He was in his late fifties.

The guitarist was already a well-respected musician in his native Canada when he moved down to San Francisco to join forces with Penelope Houston’s  punk outfit.

Kent got his start in the first wave of the Vancouver punk scene with The Skulls, and later he formed Victorian Pork, who were known as one of the most raucous and energetic bands around. Although they would soon splinter, sending members out into the world to form the Subhumans and the Pointed Sticks, Kent found himself playing with one of the first iterations of D.O.A.

Kent replaced Avengers guitarist and founding member Greg Ingraham in 1979. That union was short lived, however, as the band broke up six months after Kent joined.

On his Facebook page, John Armstrong of the Modernettes–who is known by his stage name Buck Cherry–called Kent, “…probably the best rock and roll guitar player in the early Vancouver scene.”

Kent had been playing with Monster Baby at the time of his death.

On her Facebook page Houston wrote: “R.I.P. Brad Kent. A sweet, sweet person and talented Vancouver guitarist who played in the Avengers in 1979 and co-wrote Corpus Christi – one of my favorite Avengers songs. Listen to him here and tell me that isn’t the craziest rhythm in the choruses. Going to miss you, Brad!”