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Peter Archer, Founding Member Of Crow, Passes Away

Mary Varvaris

"Peter, we will carry the torch of your unique legacy, always," Archer's bandmates wrote in a touching tribute.

Peter Archer
Peter Archer(Credit: Billy J Burke)

Peter Archer, a founding member of the Sydney band Crow, has passed away. He was 64.

The news was confirmed by his bandmates, who shared a touching tribute with fans on social media last night (18 May).

Describing Archer as their “long-time comrade,” the group said he passed away last Thursday (14 May) and sent their deepest sympathy and love to his family and friends.

“A founding CROW member, Peter’s indelible creativity was at once intuitive and adventurous,” the band wrote.

They continued, “From the lilting frailty of Paper Eyes, to the sun-drenched lyricism of Railhead, the roaring insistence of Never Said, or the stumbling splendour of Ravine, and so many other songs, the beauty, scope and originality of Peter’s work is undeniable.”

Crow added that Archer’s “humour, generosity and kindness” inspired everything that the bandmates shared. “Being alongside him in ‘white knuckle’ moments was hypnotic - think the searing dirge of Buddah Salute, or the rumbling coda of Rabbits. Without end,” they wrote.

The band concluded, “Peter, we will carry the torch of your unique legacy, always. Buoyed by the one desire to see you again.”

Archer passed away just a few days before the band was scheduled to release a new single – one he wrote and sang. It’s the next single from a forthcoming project, which marks their first new music in over 15 years.

Crow recently announced that a long-awaited new album, Hold Sway, is coming soon, with the first single, You Can’t Turn Away, already released. The album’s second single and music video, Skyline, which was written and sung by Peter Archer, is being released on its originally planned date: this Thursday, 21 May.

Songwriters Peter Fenton and Peter Archer founded Crow in Sydney in 1986. After an initial break-up in 1999, the band began performing together again in 2007, with an album of new material—their first since 1998—arriving in 2010. Arcane, released in June 2010, was mixed by Midnight Oil’s Jim Moginie.

In October 2024, Crow’s drummer before their disbandment in 1999, Richard Andrew (also of Underground Lovers), passed away. He was 58.