Pitchfork may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. It was double-edged in not listening to anyone artistically or making horrible career moves but then again, in the end, it was not about career. Essaying the pop culture that matters since 1999. Pierce was a man in constant conflict with his inner demons. It was an offer that worked to both bands advantages. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, singer, guitarist, composer: born Texas 27 June 1958; married Romi Mori;. This was to be the last gasp of a career which had patently lost its direction. But it was too good to last. Jeffrey Lee Pierce was the brilliant frontman of The Gun Club. Pierce attended Granada Hills High School, where he participated in the drama program, acting in plays and writing several short experimental theater pieces. Its now 20 years since the untimely passing of Jeffrey Lee Pierce, and his legacy is apparent in any number of current bands now active, as well as his contemporaries who are still performing. Dissonance on the former (Black Train) becomes plain ugliness on the latter (Day Turn To Night), while Fires haunted and unhealthy lyricism (Ghost On The Highway) is tempered by Lucky Jims sonorous melancholy (Idiot Waltz). This was a more ambitious offering, from the reworking of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Run Through the Jungle" to the voodoo feel of "Like Calling Up Thunder" and "Devil in the Woods". By Gregg L. Friedman MD, I really miss the great musical groups of the 1960's. Recorded in 1984 at Hollywoods Ocean Way Studios and using Ry Cooders gear during the graveyard shift, The Las Vegas Story saw the band now with Terry Graham back on board incorporate a variety of influences. The sessions were recorded with acoustic guitars in Grove's bedroom using a "boombox" device. PleaseKillMe.com is the home of Please Kill Me: the Uncensored Oral History of Punk. Were having a band. And that was that!. [22][23] Pierce flew back to London in February to collect his belongings then returned to the United States, having been requested to leave England following his arrest and lack of visa. Of course, we can play the influence game forever we have to mention Howlin Wolf as well as a 1959 album by Marty Robbins called Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, particularly the song The Masters Call., But its important to remember it goes both ways. I learned 30 songs and I had one 10-minute rehearsal where Jeffrey was completely pissed, and then I played the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in front of 5,000 people. It still pains me that I completely missed the next three albums. A thrilling and coruscating performance powered by heavy distortion and near-punishing volume, Jack Whites wide-eyed and frantic delivery drips from every pore with a punk rock attitude. Pierce's autobiography, Go Tell The Mountain, goes into detail about the personal turmoil he experienced during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He went on to work in a Los Angeles record store and to write about music for punk-oriented newspapers like Slash. All rights reserved. Says Powers: The concert was great and at the end of the night, in a fit of inspiration, I suppose, Jeffrey said, Why dont we have a band together? So I said, Well, okay, but I dont play any instrument or do anything. So he said, Well you can be the singer and Ill play the guitar, and Im like, Im not going to be the singer. And hes like, I could show you how to play guitar. The other two just quit on the spot but I thought, I want to see Australia, so I went with him.. The Gun Clubs 1981 debut Fire of Love was rarely off my turntable in those days. We didnt try to transpose it to rocknroll, says Powers. was Leadbelly. Jeffrey Lee Pierce: Age 37 | Cause Of Death: CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE Gun Club (Born:1958, Died 3-31-1996) Powell. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, singer, guitarist, composer: born Texas 27 June 1958; married Romi Mori; died Los Angeles 31 March 1996. The band's first album, "Fire of Love" (1981), remains its most admired, with a fast-paced, irreverent version of the Mississippi blues song "Preachin' the Blues" and Mr. Pierce's warbling voice wailing about dark themes like drugs and death. In 2014, Sergio Rotman of the Argentinian band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs edited a special edition of 500CDs with versions of 14 Gun Club and Pierce songs. Sign up below to get the latest from Classic Rock, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox! The Gun Club: Born To Burn Out Fast | Louder - loudersound If he inspired Jack White musically (and he did), he more readily recalled Jack Black, physically while embodying, in his own agitated head at least, Jack on Fire. Because hed stopped drinking, he found that he couldnt perform, because it was always about him being pissed. The label clarified that the third album has become the "penultimate" full-length release of the Project, but did not name the final album, or its release date. They were going to be playing that night and I said, Jeffrey! Mr. Pierce, a singer and guitarist, began his career in music as a fan and critic. [3] He started learning guitar at the age of 10. Punk had left its mark on both of the young friends, with Pierce and Powers running the Blondie and Ramones fan clubs respectively. Recording wasfine but live it all changed.. Sometimes hed be like Robert Mitchum in Night Of The Hunter where hed take a Bible on stage and throw it to the floor. Toward the end of his life, Jeffrey Lee Pierce increasingly embraced a more traditional blues, as if hed lost interest in the future altogether. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). He tragically died of a brain hemorrhage on March 31, 1996. The Las Vegas Story is a farewell of sorts to an LA and America changing under the Reagan administration, but whether they knew it or not, The Gun Club wouldnt be returning to the US to live. Pierces self-interest, combined with the theft of Terry Grahams personal effects after a gig in Manchester, led to the departure of the drummer. (LA WEEKLY), GARY LACHMAN (NEE VALENTINE): A NEW YORK ROCKER SAILS INTO THE MYSTIC, FACE IT: DEBBIE HARRY HAS HAD A HAPPY AND LUCKY LIFE, Please Kill Me Remembers Jeffrey Lee Pierce | Death Or Glory. He was one of the founding members of the band The Gun Club, and released material as a solo artist. As a teenager, he moved from El Monte, a working-class industrial suburb east of Los Angeles, to Granada Hills, at the time a white working- and middle-class suburb in the San Fernando Valley. I was already living in New York and I got as far as asking people, because there was a great music community in New York. Jeffrey Lee Pierce was born on 27 June 1958. He slithered away in Salt Lake City, Utah, on. among many others. 4 references. Patricia Morrison agrees with Mori on this point. Deadline is a part of Penske Media Corporation. His Latina mother was a homemaker, taking care of Pierce and his sister, Jacqui. Julian Marszalek is the former Reviews Editor of The Blues Magazine. Musically, most of the pieces were in place very early. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, the leader of the Gun Club, a trailblazing Los Angeles band that began mixing punk rock with American roots music in 1979, died on Sunday at Utah University Hospital in Salt Lake City. I couldnt do it any more; we had too many arguments and disagreements.. The thing that I remember most about that show, and Ive never, ever forgotten it, is that they came on and its hard to overestimate the impact this has on you as a kid and this huge wall of feedback emanated from their instruments. Creeping Ritual Productions was formed June 27th 2007, not only as a tribute website to the late Jeffrey Lee Pierce but most importantly its primary purpose is to archive and protect the legendary memory of this rock . Music, The Quietus, The Guardian, NME and Shindig! He tragically died of a brain hemorrhage on March 31, 1996. Yes. Jeffrey Lee Pierce And The Gun Club - The Life And Times Of Jeffrey Lee Pierce And The Gun Club. We were record collectors and fans and at a super young age had dedicated our lives to that, recalls Powers. Elvis From Hell is due out in 2020. Jeffrey Lee Pierce - IMDb We had two channels on our TV and a wood stove for heat, the wood-splitting axe a necessary companion. He was a record nerd but we were also dreamers and into a lot of rocknroll fantasy. The Gun Club Documentary 'Elvis From Hell' Coming In 2020 - Stereogum Something was really happening there.. Obituary: Jeffrey Lee Pierce | The Independent | The Independent He was the child of a multi-ethnic marriage. To this day, however, that voice still causes the hairs to raise, the hackles to rise in fight or flight. We were recording in Holland and, as you can imagine, you could get hold of anything you wanted. His obsessions crawled all over him. "[19] In May 1994, Pierce joined the band on-stage during the "Let Love In" European tour,[20] culminating in a show at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, where he sang a cover of the Johnny Cash/Bob Dylan song "Wanted Man". In fact, For the Love of Ivy appropriates a couplet almost immediately (Well, jawbone eat and jawbone talk / Jawbone eat you with a knife and fork). I knew the situation he was in: he couldnt drink and he so he needed something else. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. In 1979, following in the footsteps of the Germs, the Dead Kennedys and the Dickies, Pierce formed his own punk band, Creeping Ritual. [7], Although the project's third and final album, The Task Has Overwhelmed Us, was due for release in late 2012,[47] the schedule was changed after the release of the second installment. And without the fire to shore us against the cold, the sadness can simply be overwhelming. He looks plain lost. He formed the Gun Club, originally named Creeping Ritual, in 1979 and developed a reputation for flamboyant performances. Jeffrey Lee Pierce was an American punk, and a bluesman lead singer and guitarist for that most contradictory of bands, The Gun Club, whose erratic embers smoldered and sputtered fitfully. 31 March 1996. Which is why 13 years after his death, a loss I only discovered on an Internet forum somewhere around the turn of the millennium Jeffrey Lee Pierce deserves this long-overdue eulogy-apology for reminding me that, sometimes, for loves sake, in the face of the nights chilly indifference, the only thing left for us is to shriek and cavort and kick the campfire sparks and temporarily lose our minds in the music. It was started by Pierce, who was the president of Blondies U.S. fan club, whose lead singer Debbie Harry was a longtime supporter. It was about making good music and that became our means of survival. IN THE LATE 60S! Garnering much critical acclaim, it would prove to be an influential album, not least on the UKs nascent psychobilly scene and the 80s garage band revivalists that followed. Jeffrey Lee Pierce's been dead and buried for some years 3 now. Music was the same thing: if he liked something then hed listen to it to death. PLEASE KILL MES PUNK HISTORIANS LEGS MCNEIL AND GILLIAN MCCAIN TURN THEIR ATTENTION TO L.A. The album features interpretations of Pierce's work by friends and collaborators including Debbie Harry, Nick Cave, Lydia Lunch, Mick Harvey and Kid Congo Powers. Elvis From Hell, a U.S./German co-production, is directed by Heiko Lange (B-Movie: Lust and Sound in West Berlin) and Jessica Andree (The Noise of Cairo) and is produced by Kobalt Productions Anahita Nazemi and Katrin Sandmann (Midsummer Nights Tango, Dancing Dreams) and Hunger Artist Productions Scott Crary (Kill Your Idols, William S. Burroughs: A Man Within, Fire Music). Still, the momentum nevertheless enabled Pierce to sign his band to Animal Records, a label set up by the Blondie guitarist Chris Stein. [41][42][43], Grove contacted other artists via Myspace to contribute to the project, including Lanegan, and as the project grew, artists such as Isobel Campbell and Jim Sclavunos also agreed to contribute. He returned to Los Angeles in 1995. Co-edited by Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil, the authors of, The Knack had an amazing sound. 1 reference. And while the new fans are throwing themselves with abandon to the maelstrom emanating from the stage, older heads are sensing a familiarity that hasnt been heard for some time. Come on! And move! [30], Pierce is honored by Thstrm in a 2005 song recording. Though the material was as strong as the debut Texas Serenade features some fine slide playing by Dotson while Mother Of Earth practically invents alt.country Steins production all but ignored the bottom end to create a trebly document that, as testified by live bootlegs from the time, was hardly representative of the bands sound. Line-up: Jeffrey Lee Pierce (vocals)/ Ward Dotson (guitar)/ Rob Ritter (bass) and Terry Graham (drums). Id heard that he was an oddball and difficult and all the rest, but when I heard the songs the ones on Miami I just thought they were fantastic., But she also saw another side to him: My favourite bit of being in The Gun Club was when Jeffrey would write songs and hed get a hold of me, and Id drive out to the valley where he lived with his mum and his sister. Arun Starkey. [11] Jones described the Gun Club's music as "way more brutal and full-on than any metal band I have ever heard. He had the voice of sadness and when we played really large venues, his voice would go so wide, especially when we were playing sad, bluesy songs.. Mori moved to bass, Nick Sanderson was on drums and the call was made to Kid Congo Powers who, by this time, was based in Berlin. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. "[9], In September 1983, as the Gun Club prepared for an Australian tour, two band members quit due to financial concerns and ongoing frustration with Pierce's behavior. Pierce returned to Europe to play more shows, culminating in the Quartet's final gig on December 27 in London. [39], Henry Rollins, another friend of Pierce, played the Gun Club song "Bill Bailey" during his first show for the "Artist in Residence" feature on Australian national radio station Double J. Rollins stated before playing the song: "Jeffrey Lee Pierce was a very good friend of mine and I miss him horribly. And then it happens. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Explaining the decision to work with Robin Guthrie, Powers says: We kind of felt pigeonholed so we wanted to break out of that, just for our own artistic survival as we didnt want to keep making the same record over and over again. Over the course of seven studio albums and an ever-shifting line-up of musicians driven away by Pierces self-obsessed and self-destructive behaviour, The Gun Club left behind a body of work whose ramifications are still reverberating to this day. By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. But fantasy bled into reality and it was annoying to the band. 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