After Pierce's death, Cypress Grove had happened upon a cassette, stuffed into a drawer, whilst cleaning out his loft. With Meg White pumping her bass drum, Jack stomps on those overdrive pedals again and hollers, You look just like an Elvis from hell! For those older heads it all clicks into place and at the same time The White Stripes acknowledge forebears every bit as important to their oeuvre as Robert Johnson, Lead Belly or Son House: the song is For The Love Of Ivy and The White Stripes are paying dues to The Gun Club. Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Rock Musician, 37 New York Times", "Obituary: Jeffrey Lee Pierce People News", "in exile: the rootless cosmopolitanism of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the Gun Club", "Preaching The Blues: Remembering The Gun Club's Jeffrey Lee Pierce", "Returning to the supposedly troublesome 'Miami', "Rockbrat Remembers: When Spencer Jones played with The Gun Club", "NEW YORK NIGHT TRAIN issue 1: Kid Congo Powers Oral History Pt. Whitechapel Jack. By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 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. That became the title of their album. An obsession for record collecting in his early teens led to him meeting fellow music fan and future Gun Club guitarist and co-founder, Kid Congo Powers (ne Brian Tristan). One of his best qualities, was encouraging his friends to make music, even insisting that they do. By Gregg L. Friedman MD, Nirvana were really great - never liked any other 'grunge' bands, only later liked some Mudhoney - though i did own a flannel shirt, but, SAM CUTLER: LIFE WITH THE STONES, THE DEAD & OTHER WONDERFUL REPROBATES, ALL THE RAJ: HOW NORWEGIAN WOOD UNLEASHED THE INDIAN INVASION, THE KNACK AND HOW TO GET IT: AN INTERVIEW WITH PRESCOTT NILES, PLEASE READ ME: THE BEST OF PKM FOR 2021, PART II, UTOPIA PARKWAY: THE ENDURING MYSTERY OF JOSEPH CORNELL, THE TOP TEN MOST SHOCKING, BIZARRE, AND HISTORIC DEATHS OF ROCK & ROLL DRUMMERS ONSTAGE. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Such an accomplishment, in a world mostly devoid of magic, is damn near miraculous, quite honestly. Lange and Andree will also co-produce, along with Alexander von Sturmfeder, under their Scenes From banner. His interest in reggae overlapped with the emergence of punk rock and he became involved in the Hollywood scene as a contributor to Slash, writing on contemporary punk, 1930s blues, 1950s rockabilly, and on reggae under the name "Ranking Jeffrey Lea", including an interview with Bob Marley. Jeffrey Lee Pierce is a name known more by association, I guess, than in his own right, popping up in the alongside others plowing the same vein. [50] The documentary received mostly positive critical reception, but was criticized for not including any of Pierce's music or interview footage with him.[51]. PleaseKillMe.com is the home of Please Kill Me: the Uncensored Oral History of Punk. We were not a band that was poker-faced; you could see what was going on. Find a Grave memorial ID. Pierce stated that he preferred Miami, and dismissed Fire of Love: "I can't even remember making it. I was fortunate enough to catch them live at Loughborough University in late October, featuring if not their greatest line-up, certainly their most iconic Pierce on vocals and guitar, Kid Congo Powers on guitar, Patricia Morrison on bass, and Terry Graham on drums (Throughout the bands life, Pierces unpredictability led to constant disruptive personnel rotations.). 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. Using a pick-up drummer, The Gun Club road-tested material from what was to become their third album, The Las Vegas Story. In July 2014, Australian musician Spencer P. Jones argued that the blues influence in Pierce's music was largely the result of his access to the record collection of Canned Heat frontman Bob Hite, who allowed Pierce to come to his house and choose ten albums from Hite's vast blues record collection as he was dying. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. I take away that I had an amazing friendship with Jeffrey. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. Whether consciously or not, echoes of The Gun Club are keenly felt by contemporary practitioners of punk-rock blues such as Daddy Long Legs, Guadalupe Plata and The Bonnevilles as well as more established musicians such as Mark Lanegan, Nick Cave and The Black Keys. Despite a pick-up replacement, the magic was gone and the tour ended at Dingwalls in Camden Town, London. He was very hard work. Still, the momentum nevertheless enabled Pierce to sign his band to Animal Records, a label set up by the Blondie guitarist Chris Stein. He slithered away in Salt Lake City, Utah, on. [11] Jones described the Gun Club's music as "way more brutal and full-on than any metal band I have ever heard. His obsessions crawled all over him. The future was acknowledged, however grimly envisioned. The multi- talented Pierce wrote for Slash magazine as a Reggae reviewer and even lived in Jamaica for a bit. He touches on Nick Cave, The Cramps, and how R.E.M. Soundtrack: Too Young to Die. Elvis From Hell - Wikipedia The film will cover the singer/guitarists life and career through his death in 1996 at age 37 from causes related to heroin addiction, alcoholism, and HIV. 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.. It was one of the best rocknroll experiences of my life and Ill never forget it.. Pierce fronted the Gun Club from 1979 through to his death in 1996 . The sessions were recorded with acoustic guitars in Grove's bedroom using a "boombox" device. Hes never name-checked Jeffrey and I think thats a little rude., Rupert Orton is quick to acknowledge where he hears The Gun Club now: Guadalupe Plata are, I think, the people closest to re-inventing it in a way thats interesting. Rock music has had its beautiful losers (Jim Morrison, Ian Curtis, Kurt Cobain) but the American singer and songwriter Jeffrey Lee Pierce was more in the mould of the late Johnny Thunders (of New York Dolls and Heartbreakers fame) and Malcolm Owen (of Britain's Ruts), one of those musicians who never quite fulfil their potential yet follow their destiny to its inescapable conclusion. Arun Starkey. Dax Riggs, former front man of Acid Bath, Agents of Oblivion, and Deadboy & The Elephantmen, frequently performs a cover of the Gun Club's "Mother of Earth" at his live shows, always crediting Pierce and expressing admiration for his song-writing. "It was Jeff's musical misery tour.". And now, because frankly its weird talking to dead people, Im casting around awkwardly for the right words, so maybe just some facts for now. He was being deported and he needed somebody to take him to the airport. We had two channels on our TV and a wood stove for heat, the wood-splitting axe a necessary companion. The Gun Club's last ever gig, with bassist Elizabeth Montague replacing Bradbury, was at The Palace in Hollywood on December 18, 1995. His attempts at doing a guide guitar were just a disaster. Death Party: 8:29: 3-6: Stranger In Our Town: 5:14: 3-7: Gila Monster New Mexico / Preachin' The Blues: 9:40: 3-8: My . An incredible musician who loved Blondie as much as he did Delta blues, when he died in 1996, the world was left without one of its most unique artists, and his loss left a void that has never been healed. 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. Thats why he started playing guitar more. [26] However, on March 25, 1996, Pierce was found unconscious at his father's home in Salt Lake City, Utah. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. More images. The cause was a stroke, said Kim White, his manager. His obsessions crawled all over him. And yet, subject matter aside, there is nothing nihilistic about the effect of their music. Jeffrey Lee Pierce Biography, Songs, & Albums | AllMusic He tragically died of a brain hemorrhage on March 31, 1996. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, singer, guitarist, composer: born Texas 27 June 1958; married Romi Mori; died Los Angeles 31 March 1996. The Gun Club became the seminal swamp-blues, post punk band that had come screaming out of the LA club scene during the 1980 s. In 1982 Creeping Ritual Music was created by Pierce and later became the soul source for his music publishing. Jeffrey Lee Pierce - Wikipedia He couldnt perform any more and he felt such an idiot having to do it sober. The singer lived for a time in London and gigged fitfully around Europe, doing strange versions of jazz standards (John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme", Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit") and releasing disappointing albums of past and recent concerts on many labels (Two Sides of the Beast on Dojo for instance). But also I take away all the things I learned from Jeffrey. All Rights Reserved. Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy. Here is Jeffreys improbable vibrato barely hanging from the melody line: a moth caught on a wire, fluttering and occasionally thrashing, allegedly aloof from human concerns yet hinting of things preferably buried; razor blades and dead fathers; dust, blood, sand, heat, wounds and tenderness. Pierce returned to Europe to play more shows, culminating in the Quartet's final gig on December 27 in London. The decision to re-activate The Gun Club with a new line-up was made. Jeffrey Lee Pierce - Wildweed (album review ) | Sputnikmusic Pierce was born on June 27, 1958, in Montebello, California. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. This is what The Gun Club and Jeffrey Lee Pierce at their best managed: they showed us that all the loneliness of the world can be if for only a song length, for a propulsive drum beat, for the wail of a slide guitar, for the few precious seconds it takes for a defiant and fleeting shriek to disperse into the night all that apparent abandonment by the world can be momentarily defeated by spirit, by the fire spirit, by Jack on Fire, by the Indian wind along the telegraph lines. (Shes Like Heroin To Me.). Hell, right off the bat you almost recoil from the light in Shirleys lips, fleetingly grasp the tiger in Debra Anns hips. The Parisian rock elite, always in love with tragic figures like Morrison, Thunders and Iggy Pop, had found a new hero. In 1987 Pierce reformed Gun Club, recording with Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins as producer. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, the founding member of The Gun Club, was one of the most interesting figures in rock music history. He had the idea that he wanted a Cocteau Twins kind of sound for it. . Label:Retro Deluxe - RDBX004, Vibrant Records Ltd. - RDBX004: Format: 4 x CD, Compilation. In the early 80s, emerging from the sombre aftershocks of a Manchester recently bereft of another driven, misunderstood boy Joy Divisions Ian Curtis and beginning to discern, through the Mancunian perma-drizzle, welcome hints of light via that bands enigmatic progeny New Order, I inexplicably uprooted and moved south to the nondescript town of Northampton. Grove uncovered a recording of three songs on a cassette marked "JLP Songs", and realized they were from sessions he had worked on with Pierce for an album they were planning. He took what was left of the band to Holland to record their final album, Lucky Jim. Hardtimes Killing Floor Blues, filmed in 1992 and released in 2008, documents Pierce's time living in Knightsbridge, London. Apparently his health had been very bad again but it was a step in the right direction. After contacting Mark Lanegan to get involved with collaborating on a new recording of these work-in-progress tapes, he realised that many other artists were willing to get involved too. He got back in touch with his initial blues roots, began dressing like a rambling cowboy, and finger-picked a resonator guitar. Having somehow missed their sophomore effort Miami completely, I next encountered the Gun Club in 1984, with the release of The Las Vegas Story, an album as remarkable and as perplexing as anything in their catalogue. 13 October 2015. stated in. It was about making good music and that became our means of survival. But it was too good to last. Outwardly, I might have been a character in a Gun Club song, thankfully absent all the mayhem, betrayal, and sex killing. He was always at our gigs selling his autograph. Hed then run back home, only stopping at the pub for a few more drinks, and hed do that every day.. [4], Pierce's early musical interests were glam and progressive rock, including bands such as Sparks, Genesis, and Roxy Music. They were deadly serious, for one thing. 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. Dave Alvin also played lead guitar on two tracks. home [jeffreyleepierce.com] The film will cover Jeffrey Lee Pierce's life and career through his death in 1996 at the age of 37, using original interviews and archive footage. Despite the continued alcohol and drug abuse, Pierces talents were flourishing. And I also think that the records speak for themselves and Im really proud to be on them. The Gun Clubs 1981 debut Fire of Love was rarely off my turntable in those days. [33] He described Pierce in 2010 as "not only one of my heroes, he's totally inspirational to me. But Im also amazed that you can make such great music when youre that fucked up on drink and drugs. Its counterintuitive, and often, at its most abject, unforeseen beauty lurks. 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. The album also contains a version of Robert Johnson's "Preachin' Blues" and the love song "Promise Me". We want to hear from you! He has written about music for Music365, Yahoo! "[7], The Las Vegas Story (1984) was the band's third album, seeing the return of Kid Congo Powers, drummer Terry Graham and a new bassist, Patricia Morrison. [7], The follow-up album, Miami, was produced by Stein,[8] and features renditions of "Devil in the Woods," "Sleeping in Blood City" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Run Through the Jungle." Prior to his departure and the release of the album, Ritter played Miami to former Bags compatriot Patricia Morrison, who quickly fell for the records charms and replaced the bassist. Jeffrey adored Debbie Harry and carried a signed note in his wallet from her which included hair dye instructions. Cypress Grove decided to launch the Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project on uncovering lost tapes he'd earlier recorded with Pierce in his attic. in exile: the rootless cosmopolitanism of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the [41][45][44], The third album from the project is Axels & Sockets, released by Glitterhouse Records on May 2, 2014, with contributors including Iggy Pop, Cave, Harry, Lanegan, Race, Thurston Moore and Primal Scream. And finally, if you dig up the latters How Long, the version with Sonny Terry on harmonica, you will be struck not only by the unloved outcast yowl toward the end, but by its chilling kinship with Jeffreys own airless planetary howl as well. "[25], Pierce contacted Powers in early 1996 to work together on a new iteration of the Gun Club, and they began making plans, with Powers looking to recruit musicians in New York. But it was with a depressing sense of inevitability that the band would collapse once again. Hed say, Always tell the people what they dont want to hear. So whats going to really annoy people? I believed in him as a songwriter and I knew the quality would be there but his health always dictated the situation. His demise is another sad reminder that the rock 'n' roll life-style can also lead to oblivion. Jeffrey Lee Pierce's been dead and buried for some years 3 now. He went on: "with Jeffrey, you pretty much entered his world when you saw him. Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Jeffrey Lee Pierce Wikipedia The site covers music, art, culture, fashion, poetry and movies from the 60s through today. The propulsive downstruck open-E chords: F, A, E, G. The echo-twang of the rockabilly substratum, the trebly punk veneer, cockroach legs skittering on pockmarked concrete. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Their most straight-ahead blues album, the direction taken still evokes scorn from Mori: I think Jeffrey wanted to be Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan. Hed say, Always tell the people what they dont want to hear.. She caught the band live in London in 1991 after the release of Pastoral Hide And Seek: They were so uninspired that night., The recording of Pastoral Hide And Seek in Belgium had become a workmanlike chore for Kid Congo. In my defense, my own life was undergoing plenty of upheaval, both outwardly (a migration to Canada, which required my relinquishment of every piece of vinyl I owned at the time) and inwardly. A lot the bands that I work with owe a debt to The Gun Club, and that includes The Jim Jones Revue.. Not that you can blame him, given Pierces increasingly erratic substance-augmented behavior. In December 1984 the Gun Club played two gigs in London, but by January 1985 had broken up, cancelling an upcoming Australian Tour. WERE WE ALL BRAINWASHED BY THE CIA WITH SEX, DRUGS AND ROCK & ROLL? By the late 1970s, Pierce was also performing as a musician. In fact, as ragged a fit as it is, the closest they came to a scene in the UK was probably goth (which, again, couldnt have exactly helped), especially as they werent really a goth band either, outward appearances notwithstanding.