A.R.E WEAPONS guitarist RYAN NOEL has died of a heroin overdose in New York.

Noel's bandmates - PAUL SEVIGNY, BRAIN MCPECK, MATT MCAULEY and ERIK RAPPIN - will pay tribute to him at B.B. KING'S BLUES CLUB next month (13JUL04) after discovering his body in their Soho studio earlier this month (JUN04), according to American website PAGESIX.COM.

Sevigny says, "The real tragedy is as far as anyone knew, he wasn't using. His life was going really well. He was really happy. It blindsided all of us."

Noel was a semi-pro skateboarder and also played in cult band CLIKATAT IKATOWI.

29/06/2004 17:55