ANDY GILL, guitarist and cofounder of the influential British postpunk band Gang of Four, died on Sunday after a brief respiratory illness, according to a statement from the band. He was 64.

“Andy’s final tour in November was the only way he was going to bow out; with a Stratoscaster around his neck, screaming with feedback and deafening the front row,” the statement reads in part.

Gill cofounded the band with lead singer Jon King in 1977 while both were attending art school in the northern English city of Leeds, a fertile source of late-period punk acts (the Mekons also hailed from there). With political-leaning lyrics influenced by socialism and anti-commercialism — a stance echoed in the band’s single and album artwork — and a name from the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Gang of Four’s propulsive and confrontational music quickly drove it to underground fame, and after an independently released 1978 single (“Damaged Goods”) and an enthusiastic cosign from the influential BBC DJ John Peel, the band rather ironically signed with Britain’s largest major label, EMI. Picked up for U.S. distribution by Warner Bros. Records, the group’s 1979 debut album, “Entertainment,” became an underground hit in the U.K. and the United States, and the band toured extensively in support of it.

Gang of Four reunited in 1987 and continued to record and tour over the years — including on a surreal 1990 U.S. matchup with Sisters of Mercy and Public Enemy — although most influential work was behind it. A new wave of groups lauding its influence arose in the early 2000s, as bands like Franz Ferdinand, Liars, Bloc Party and particularly Radio 4 purveyed a similar mix of jagged guitars and funk rhythms. King dropped out in 2012 but Gill continued.

According to the band’s statement, a final album is in the works. “His uncompromising artistic vision and commitment to the cause meant that he was still listening to mixes for the upcoming record, whilst planning for the next tour from his hospital bed.”

(SD-Agencies)