Sir Lord Baltimore singer and drummer John Garner has died.
Website Whiplash reports that the metal pioneer passed away from from liver failure after spending several days in a coma.
Widely credited with inventing the stoner rock genre, he formed the band in 1968 with guitarist Louis Dambra and bassist Gary Justin.
They recorded Kingdom Come in 1970 and followed it in 1971 with their self-titled sequel. They split in 1976 and Garner resurrected the group for 2006’s Sir Lord Baltimore III Raw.
Reflecting on the band’s lack of commercial success in their early days in 2008, Garner said that people weren’t ready for their style of playing in the late 60s.
He told House Of Rock: “We were too quick, too fast, furious, whatever you want to call it. People were listening to more slow, plodding sounds like Sabbath and Grand Funk.
“Most people could relate to them because of how slow they played, and how really easy it is to do their riffs. We were going a mile a minute. I believe there are a lot of bands out there who could squeeze about four or five albums out of our first album as far as riff content went.”
