As Exclaim! points out, Tim Mooney, former drummer of the depressive San Francisco alt-country band American Music Club, has died of undisclosed causes. He was 53. AMC frontam Marc Eitzel made the announcement on his website, writing:

I haven’t seen Tim for a few years now but that still didn’t lessen the impact of his passing. He was the drummer of AMC for many years. He was absolutely instrumental in whatever sound we had. His style was absolutely unique and as an artist no one could match what he did. He was a good friend to so many people and will be missed. What an absolute loss. I wish all the best to his wife Jude and his daughter Dixie. I have spent all day in a fog thinking about him.

Mooney joined AMC in 1994, after playing with punk bands like Negative Trend, the Sleepers, and Toiling Midgets. He stayed with Eitzel’s band until the 2004 album Love Songs For Patriots, which he also produced and engineered. Mooney also drummed on Mark Kozelek’s Rock N’ Roll Slinger and Sun Kil Moon’s Ghosts Of The Great Highway. There’s a memorial fund up to help Mooney’s family.