Petesy Burns RIP: Tributes paid to Belfast punk musician
Louder Than War were sad to read the news that Petesy Burns from Belfast passed away on 1st January 2026. He played in seminal Belfast Anarcho-punk bands Stalag 17 and F.U.A.L. and was involved in the Warzone Collective who created a non-sectarian space, Giro’s, for punks to meet, organise and play music during the Troubles. As he put it in Ian Glasper’s Trapped In A Scene book “What was important to us, and to a lot of the people who were involved in the early Giro’s thing, was that we were producing our own music on our own terms. Much in the same way that the café workers were providing very cheap veggie and vegan food, or the art workshop was producing posters for events… DIY not UDA/IRA”.
In later years he played guitar for Belfast punk originals The Outcasts (on the right in pic above). He could also be spotted as a punter buying records in the Terri Hooley biopic Good Vibrations.
Tributes have been shared from across the international DIY punk community, testament to his affable nature and the influence of his music.
Condolences to his family and friends.
Details of his funeral are on his Facebook page.
Photo – LTW archive 2014, photographer unknown.
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