Howie Pyro, former bassist for New York glam-punks D Generation, has died. Pyro’s former bandmate Jesse Malin announced Pyro’s passing on Instagram last night, and Pitchfork reports that Pyro died of COVID-19-related pneumonia after going through liver disease and a liver transplant. Pyro was 61.

Howie Pyro, born Howard Kusten, is a Queens native who became a regular in the late-’70s New York punk scene as a preteen. He started out as the frontman for the Blessed, a punk band made up entirely of underage kids. The Blessed only released one single, but they played CBGB and Max’s Kansas City. Pyro became friends with Sid Vicious, and he was famously one of the last people who saw Vicious before Vicious died.

In the ’80s, Pyro led a band called the Freaks, and then he helped form D Generation in 1991. That band adapted a sneering, decadent form of punk, and they were known nearly as much for their look as for their music. The band signed with Chrysalis and released their self-titled debut album in 1993. Around the same time, the members of the band started putting on their own Green Door parties in New York, and Pyro would DJ those parties, playing punk, rockabilly, garage rock, and different associated genres.

D Generation released three albums before breaking up in 1999, all on major labels. They worked with producers like Ric Ocasek and Tony Visconti, but they never really got big. D Generation also reunited for occasional shows over the years, and they released one more album in 2016. After the band’s initial breakup, Howie Pyro moved to Los Angeles and briefly joined Danzig. Pyro also played on records from Joey Ramone and Jesse Malin, and he continued to DJ, hosting the internet radio show Intoxica! In recent months, Jesse Malin has organized benefit shows for Pyro, booking bands like L7 and the Lunachicks.

Below, check out some of Howie Pyro’s work.