Devo’s Alan Myers Loses Cancer Battle

26 June 2013 | 4:13 pm | Staff Writer

He drummed with the band from 1976 to 1986.

Among the many drummers that Ohio weirdo rock legends Devo have had over the years, none seemed as much an integral part of the band that Alan Myers, who played with the band from 1976 through to 1986. Today Slicing Up Eyeballs has reported that Myers has lost a battle with cancer.

He first joined the band in 1976 and, along with brothers Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh and Gerard and Bob Casale, was a part of what many would call the “classic” Devo line up. It was this line up that would take the band from obscurity to mainstream success

Myers, who was known as The Human Metronome, was highly praised for the mechanical precision he brought to his drumming which is highly evident across much of the music he made with Devo over the years.

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The news was first reported by his friend Ralph Carney (jazz drummer and uncle of The Black Keys' Patrick Carney) on Facebook and Josh Freese on twitter.

It has since been confirmed by Devo's Gerard Casale who has paid his own tribute to his former drummer.

Freese, who is one of Devo's current drummers, has previously credited Myers with inspiring him to become a drummer as a young boy.

“A lot of people think that it's a drum machine on Whip It. But that's Alan Myers,” he said to Spin Magazine in 2010.

We'll report further details should they come to hand.