One of the founders of Vancouver’s fertile early art-punk scene, Frank Ramirez, has died, with friends and colleagues announcing the news on social media. The singer and multimedia artist, who first rose to prominence in Vancouver as a member of U-J3RK5, passed away on September 27.

Dermot Foley collaborated with Ramirez—born Frank Johnson—in his post-U-J3RK5 project Si Monkey, notable for two tracks on the Vancouver Independence compilation album. On Facebook, Foley writes that Ramirez grew up surfing Southern California, where he took up the bass and eventually became fascinated with Captain Beefheart. Moving to Canada to avoid the draft, and enrolling at UBC, he met Rodney Graham and Kitty Byrne in an art history class taught by Ian Wallace.

All four would end up forming U-J3RK5, with Byrne on drums, Graham on guitar, Wallace on bass, and Ramirez on vocals. They were joined by second guitarist Colin Griffiths, keyboardists Jeff Wall (yes, that Jeff Wall) and David Wisdom, and electric violinist Danice McLeod.

Today that band is often remembered for a lineup that featured future international art stars Wall and Graham. But U-J3RK5 helped show Vancouver that punk could be anything as long as you were willing to make your own rules.

The group contributed two fantastically unhinged tracks—“U-J3RK5 Work for Police” and “Naum Gabo”—to the landmark early West Coast underground music compilation Vancouver Complication.

U-J3RK5 later released an eponymous four-song EP on Quintessence Records, the songs fantastic in their adventurous, and angry but intelligent, weirdness. Rather than take inspiration from Ramones or the Sex Pistols as many bands of the era did, U-J3RK5 was more part of a lineage that included Talking Heads, Captain Beefheart, and early Devo.

Foley notes on Facebook that Ramirez left Vancouver for Europe after Si Monkey, spending his time in the ’80s and ’90s playing music, hosting a radio show, and making art installations using photography and tape loops.

“Frank returned to Vancouver in 2002, met his life partner Cathy,” Foley says in his post, “and began a 20-year relationship which lasted until Cathy’s passing in 2021. Frank continued to explore diverse musical genres, played regularly with Ian, Colin, and other musicians, and was endlessly fascinated with the evolving world of digital photography, electronic music, and culture.”