Gord Lewis, the guitarist for punk rock band Teenage Head, was killed by his adult son over the weekend, police in Canada said.
Lewis, 65, was found dead at the home the two shared, the Hamilton Spectator reported. His 41-year-old son, Jonathan, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
“We are heartbroken and still trying to process the loss of our friend, bandmate and brother Gord Lewis,” the band wrote Monday in an Instagram post. “Gord was a force and an inspiration to many. You were taken from us far too soon.”
Around 8 p.m. Saturday, various Canadian media outlets started getting emails from Jonathan Lewis that claimed his father was dead.
“Now I just want to get help for my sickness and give my Dad a proper burial,” read one email to the Spectator. “He didn’t deserve this.”
After Lewis mentioned a decomposing body on Sunday morning, reporters alerted police who arrived at the Lewis residence in the far south Toronto suburb later that day and found Gord Lewis’ body.
Authorities said there are no other suspects in the killing. Cops did not provide many details, saying only that Gord’s death had been ruled a homicide.
Teenage Head was formed in the 1970s by four friends from a Hamilton high school and rose to become one of Canada’s most popular punk rock bands. In addition to playing guitar, Lewis was a key melody writer for the group.
After gaining momentum in the ‘70s, Teenage Head was so popular that in 1980 a riot broke out among fans trying to see them at a Hamilton concert venue. Dozens of people were arrested, but no one was killed.
“We didn’t finish something ... I just remember running, running with my guitar,” Lewis told the Spectator years later, describing fans storming the stage during the encore. “I didn’t know about the riot stuff until I saw the front of the Globe the next day.”
After experiencing the rise and fall of fame through the 1980s, Teenage Head took a long hiatus after 1988, eventually releasing two final albums, 1996′s “Head Disorder” and 2008′s “Teenage Head with Marky Ramone.”
Canadian music publicist Eric Alper described Teenage Head as “One of the most important — and underrated — bands this country has ever produced. A leader in punk and rock and roll from the 1970s onward, (Lewis’) enthusiasm and tenacity to his craft was astonishing, and well worth remembering.”
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