Tom Searle, the guitarist with Brighton band Architects has died aged 28 after a three year battle with cancer, his twin brother has confirmed. In a Facebook post Dan delivered the sad news, describing how his brother had battled the disease for three years, but in the last two weeks things had taken a turn for the worse.

“It is with unbelievable pain and sadness that I have to announce that at around twelve minutes past midnight on August 20th my amazing brother, Tom, passed away after over 3 years living with cancer,” Dan wrote. The brothers had formed the band in 2004, after having been playing together for years.

Dan described his twin as his “closest and oldest friend.” Adding that he was “an incredible songwriter and guitarist…a funny, intelligent and sweet man and he leaves an enormous void in all of our lives.” Dan explained that Tom had been absent from various shows over the past 15 months and revealed it was due to various surgeries that he had to have to treat the cancer.

In June Tom had been advised to stay in hospital to receive care but ultimately there was nothing that they could do, so he signed himself out of the ward two days before the band left to play the Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park festivals.

The festivals were Tom’s final shows with the band, after he became gravely ill in Luxembourg and had to be taken to hospital where he was placed into a medically induced coma. Doctors had said he would most likely never wake again, but five days later he was awake and eventually able to travel home on the Eurostar.

“He spent the last 2 months of his life fighting with everything he had to overcome the disease once and for all, and things appeared to be moving in the right direction, but in the last 2 weeks it suddenly took a turn for the worse and finally he left us,” Dan continued.

Dan added that he didn't know what would become of the band, but that it will never be the same. “We want to carry on, that is important to say, and we will strive to do so, but we will not release any music unless we truly believe that it is something that Tom would have been proud of,” he said.

“Whether or not we can achieve that is something that we will have to discover in time.” Dan also included a link to a Just Giving page set up in Tom’s name which benefits The Martlets Hospice in Hove, which the drummer says “took unbelievable care of Tom in his final days.”