Garry Roberts, a guitarist and member of The Boomtown Rats, has died. He was 72.

In a statement posted on the band's Facebook page on Wednesday, Roberts is described as "the guy who summed up the sense of who The Rats are."

"On a clear spring evening in 1975, in a pub in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, Garry became the founding member of what turned out to be a great rock 'n' roll band, driven largely by that sound of his," the band says.

It described Roberts' musical talents as "a storm of massive considered noise that punched out from his overtaxed amplifiers and which animated not just the rest of the group but audiences he played to around the world."

The remaining members of The Rats, Bob Geldof, Pete Briquette, Simon Crowe, said having known Roberts since childhood "we feel strangely adrift without him tonight."

"For fans he was The Legend - and he was. For us he was Gazzer, the guy who summed up the sense of who The Rats are," the band – who is best known for hits "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Rat Trap" – wrote.

Wishing him safe travels, the statement was signed by Geldoff, Briquette and Crow who added the names of late members Darren Beale and Alan Dunne.

No cause of death was immediately made public.

Roberts contributed backing vocals for most of the band's recordings along with playing the bass guitar and saxophone.

He also worked as a live sound engineer for bands such as Simply Red and Orchestral Manoeuvres in t'Dark, along with assisting the band Flesh For Lulu on their US "Boot Lounge" tour in 1987.

In a post on the band's Twitter account following his passing, the members of The Boomtown Rats added that he is "a man who will be missed, a friend who will be remembered, a sound that will never been forgotten."