Kevin Bronson on October 7th, 2017

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Alvin DeGuzman, guitarist for the Icarus Line and a steadying presence in the L.A. post-hardcore band known for being rock ’n’ roll bad boys, has died after a long battle with bone cancer. He was 39.

DeGuzman was revered in his circle of friends and bandmates as both a gentle soul and rock ’n’ roll soldier.

In a moving tribute published on Facebook, the Icarus Line frontman Joe Cardamone called DeGuzman “the saint, the moral compass, the exception” in the band, which called it quits in 2015. He also praised the musicianship and professionalism of his longtime friend (they met in the third grade):

“Alvin showed up. Always. If I was getting thrown out of my house because of some messy split, I knew he was on his way over so that I could throw whatever belongings that were still intact in the back of his car. He got me the fuck out of dodge so many times it’s obscene. His character as a human was unparalleled. His moral compass didn’t waver, which wasn’t always easy around a bunch of nihilistic thugs who just as soon burn the venue to ground as to do a soundcheck. If someone would get hurt, Alvin was out. That was the only time he would ever back away, if it was going to seriously be at someone else’s expense. He kept me from going over the edge. Success didn’t make a scratch of difference to him. When we had it all in front of 15K people at Reading festival or when we had nothing a week later at bar to no one in Arizona. Doing music was the same to him, fuck the circumstances. For 20 years Alvin turned up, played and knew my songs better than I did. On more than one night, I saw the smallest guy in a tribe of small warriors pack the van entirely by himself. I would be out of breath on the curb next to him, he didn’t [faze]. Alvin slept on the dirty motel floor for 20 years so that I could sleep in a dirty motel bed.”

Annie Hardy of Giant Drag, with whom the low-key DeGuzman also played for a time, also paid tribute, saying he was “the only human being I know who has no enemies and who everyone loved … a living angel … whose biggest shortcoming was not standing up for himself.”

Read Cardamone’s tribute in full here.