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Andrew Ranken, one of the co-founders of beloved Irish folk rock group The Pogues has died at age 72. The percussionist who earned the nickname “The Clobberer,” was honored by his former bandmates in an Instagram post announcing his passing in which they wrote, “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Andrew Ranken, drummer, founding member and heartbeat of the Pogues.”
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While the band did not reveal a cause of death, in a separate post, Victoria Mary Clarke, the widow of the band’s late singer, Shane MacGowan, said that Ranken passed following a “long and brave battle with illness.”
The group thanked Ranken for his “everything, for your friendship, your wit and your generosity of spirit, and of course for the music, forever a true friend and brother.” In her remembrance, Clarke added, “Andy was a fierce drummer and founding member of the Pogues, having joined Poguemahone in 1983 and braving all the beer-swilling, pogo-jumping, underground illegal drinking joints the fledgling band played and developing his own unique style of a warrior drumbeat. Without him the Pogues could never have developed their battle-ready rhythm and sound. He truly was the heartBEAT of the band.”
Ranken joined the group in 1983 and played on all their seven of their studio albums, providing sometimes bashing, sometimes martial, army band-like percussion on such beloved tunes as “Fairytale of New York,” “Dirty Old Town,” “A Pair of Brown Eyes,” “If I Should Fall From Grace With God,” “Sunny Side of the Street” and countless others. In addition to playing drums and harmonica, Ranken took the occasional vocal turn as well, taking lead on the minute-long, movie monster-like interlude “Worms” from 1988’s If I Should Fall From Grace With God and adding backing vocals on 1990’s Hells Ditch.
Andrew Ranken was born in London on Nov. 13, 1953 and was working towards a degree in media and sociology at Goldsmiths College at the University of London when he joined a then-gestating band called Pogue Mahone (whose Irish translation is roughly “kiss my arse”). The band’s unique blend of traditional Irish folk, punk and rock was anchored by late frontman MacGowan’s shambolic, mesmerizing, often inebriated performance style, along with the eclectic attack of multi-instrumentalist Jem Finer (banjo, vocals, saxophone, piano, guitar), singer/tin whistle player Spider Stacy and James Fearnley (accordion, piano, guitar).
According to The New York Times, MacGowan and Finer heard Ranken practicing in his apartment one day and asked him to join their band, making him audition twice. After the second try-out, the pair reportedly told Ranken that he could join them, but only if he performed with a spare kit made up of a snare and floor tom, which he would have to play standing up. “No cymbals,” they told him, “but you can have a saucepan lid.” The gambit work, as evidenced by the propulsive, rat-a-tat percussion he played on the band’s 1985 single “Sally MacLennane.”
Ranken appeared on the group’s 1984 debut, Red Roses For Me, which exploded them onto the U.K. music scene with a then-unique mix of punk swagger and attitude mixed with traditional Irish folk music and covers, many of them about hard drinking, hard lives and liberally laced with a transgressive attitude and grim storytelling. The band quickly evolved into a fan favorite with 1985’s Rum Sodomy & the Lash, which landed them their first U.K. chart placement with the group’s take on the traditional song “A Pair of Brown Eyes.” The LP’s title was adapted, at Ranken’s suggestion, from a quote attributed to late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill: “don’t talk to me about naval tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash.”
In a 2023 Instagram post, the band credited Ranken with the title idea, sharing that he said, “it seemed to sum up life in our band.”
Indeed, life in the group was chaotic at times due to MacGowan’s substance issues and unpredictable nature, though they held it together to release their classic If I Should Fall From Grace With God in 1988, as well as 1989’s Peace and Love and 1990’s Hell’s Ditch, before parting ways with their troublesome lead singer on 1993’s Waiting For Herb. In addition to songwriting, Ranken also took a ragged lead vocal on that album’s raging love lost lament “My Baby’s Gone.”
MacGowan died in 2023 at age 65 following years of drug and alcohol use.
In addition to touring with the group, Ranken appeared on the Pogues’ seventh and final studio album, 1996’s Pogue Mahone, on which he wrote and shared vocals on the pugnacious Cajun/Irish rocker “Amadie.” Following the band’s split, Ranken was again behind the kit for their series of reunion tours from 2001-2014 and later led the group Andrew Ranken and Mysterious Wheels, as well as playing with the Recidivist.
Listen to some of Ranken’s work below.