Drummerobit: Jon Brookes

Horrible news yesterday, with the death of Charlatans drummer Jon Brookes.

As a key member of a major Madchester band and a West Brom fan, Brookes was Baggie twice over.

There's a lovely 1999 interview with Brookes and James Hannah, in which Jon looks back over the Charlatan's career up until Us & Us Only. There's some consideration of the previous tragedy that hit the band - the death of Rob Collins during the making of Tellin' Stories ("I can hear cer­tain con­flicts on there between us all. I think the ascent made us dizzy again. I still haven’t quite digested the songs."), but mostly it tracks a band who rose, fell and rose again, making it up as they went along and doing a pretty good job of it.

Beyond being a musician, Jon was a father and a husband. He was only 44.

The Charlatans kept me going through some grim times. His drumbeat kept my heart going. Thanks, Jon.