Jock McDonald, frontman and founder of The Bollock Brothers, has passed away

Jock McDonald, the frontman and founder of the British punk rock band The Bollock Brothers, has passed away on Saturday (26 July 2025) in what appears to have been a “freak swimming accident”, according to his bandmate, drummer Pat Pattyn:

“It is with great sadness in my heart,I have to bring you this terrible news…sadly, our singer Jock McDonald has died last night in Ireland,apparently a freak swimming accident…his children asked me to tell you all via this way…his family and all the Bollock Brothers are in shock…we are going to try and give this a place, but that won’t be easy… Please don’t try to call us today,give us some time, please… Rest in peace,my friend…I will miss you…”

– Pat Pattyn

Jock McDonald’s brother Gerry O’Donnell says:

“Kills me to post this but my Brother […] went to his birthplace in Donegal and tragically went for a swim and undercurrent took him he was more than a brother to me I’m heartbroken but if he had to be taken then for him it would have been Donegal with our mum and Dad […]”

– Gerry O’Donnell

The Bollock Brothers were founded in 1979 and are known for their publicity-generating musical collaborations, for example with Michael Fagan, the man who entered Queen Elizabeth II’s bedchamber at Buckingham Palace in 1982, and Jimmy Lydon, brother of John Lydon, better known as the former Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten. They also worked with Killing Joke bassist Martin “Youth” Glover on the song “The Slow Removal Of Vincent Van Gogh’s Left Ear“. Their track-by-track cover version of the only Sex Pistols studio album “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols”, “Never Mind The Bollocks 1983”, attracted particular attention. Jock McDonald, born Patrick Joseph O’Donnell, was 69 years old.