Andrew Ranken, Whose Drumming Powered the Pogues, Dies at 72

Andrew Ranken, the longtime drummer for the Pogues, died on Tuesday at 72. The band announced his death on social media but did not cite a cause or say where he died. Nicknamed “The Clobberer,” he drove the rhythms that powered the group’s blend of traditional Irish music, rock and punk.

Ranken joined the Pogues in 1983 while studying media and sociology at Goldsmiths College, when the group was still known as Pogue Mahone and emerging from the North London pub scene. He played with them until their 1996 breakup and again from 2001 to 2014, and he is featured on Red Roses for Me (1984), Rum Sodomy and the Lash (1985) and If I Should Fall From Grace With God (1988).

“The music had that totally infectious thing of great hooks, great melodies and a really driving beat,” he told Aldora Britain Records in 2022. “Plus, of course, the wonderful lyrics and the impossibly handsome musicians.” Born on Nov.

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