Onstage, playing “beejtar” with The Suburbs in the 1970s and ’80s, Chaney was intense. Whether he was running around shirtless or swinging from the rafters, he looked, as Semisonic member Dan Wilson told the Pioneer Press a few years ago, “like he might explode at any moment.”

Beej Chaney, always a bold adventurer as a guitarist and performer, had a ritual of swimming in the Pacific Ocean almost daily. The Twin Cities-reared musician did so Sunday around sunset, and his body was found on Hermosa Beach that night,

A Minnesota band popular across the country in the late 70s and through the 80s is saying goodbye to a founding member. The Suburbs’ John “Beej” Chaney, of Blaine, has passed away, according to the band.