Jeffrey Lee Pierce: Age 37 | Cause Of Death: CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE Gun Club (Born:1958, Died 3-31-1996) The latter acted as producer on Miami, the second Gun Club album, which also featured Debbie Harry on backing vocals. Mr. Pierce, a singer and guitarist, began his career in music as a fan and critic. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. 181737469. subject named as. Pierces self-interest, combined with the theft of Terry Grahams personal effects after a gig in Manchester, led to the departure of the drummer. Los Angeles was one of the few American cities to follow the British and New York punk scene and the young Jeffrey soon became obsessed with Blondie to such an extent that he became president of their fan club (a couple of years earlier, a teenage Morrissey developed a similar unhealthy fascination with the New York Dolls, another proof that fandom sometimes pays creative dividends). 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. It was about making good music and that became our means of survival. June 27, 1958; Died. I want his head cut off and his brain taken out. But this isnt the place for either masochism or specific reviews, even of the thumbscrew/thumbnail variety, so Ill merely hint at an entry point: go listen to a song that didnt make the cut originally, only showing up on the reissues, Secret Fires. Clocking in at just over two-and-a-half minutes, at first glance its a boilerplate country-folk waltz that pits an open-sky acoustic strum against the mating-cougar wails of a lap steel, all dry arroyo echo-sketches, yet within its weary concision it exemplifies the wild mercury allure of the best Gun Club music, transient and indelible as the ozone dance of summer night lightning. Elvis From Hell will tell the story of Pierce, a. Jim Duckworth has this big, archtop semi-acoustic Gibson and he was getting feedback to go from his monitor and into his amp, and Id never heard anything like it. With the release of the Death Party EP in 1983, more line-up shifts saw the departure and return of Terry Graham and the inclusion of Jim Duckworth, formerly of Tav Falcos Panther Burns, on guitar. In this case, what would happen if this blues band played a Cocteau Twins song?, Mori agrees and adds that whatever Pierces ongoing musical obsessions were, they always informed The Gun Club: That was because of his personality. The cause was a stroke, said Kim White, his manager. Pierce returned to Los Angeles before relocating to Utah to stay with his father and write. . 2023 Cond Nast. 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.). Arun Starkey. They were trying to come up with something that was so anti-everything it would piss everyone else off. Few escaped their scorn initially. Actually no, somewhere off-centre of it all was Jeffreys voice, for he rarely cleaved to the melody back then, quavering in a tremulous howl mostly sharp and occasionally flat, which further served to heighten the tension of his themes, which were, somewhat predictably: sex, pain, intoxication, and murder. More images. Almost beyond language. 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. Its August bank holiday 2002, and The White Stripes, hot on the back of their third album, White Blood Cells, are introducing a whole new generation to the blues at the annual Reading Festival. It must have been so hard for him. Pierce encouraged his friend Brian Tristan, aka Kid Congo Powers, to play the guitar and develop his style, eventually recruiting him to form the band Creeping Ritual, which evolved into The Gun Club with the addition of drummer Terry Graham and guitarist Rob Ritter. Morrison and Powers remained in London, forming Fur Bible, while Pierce visited Egypt with guitarist and new girlfriend Romi Mori, who he had met at a London show. There was very little funny about The Gun Club, certainly not intentionally (Although Pierces bitter comment about Cave attending a better class of rehab than himself could be seen as humorous if you squint hard enough.). On top of Pierces fascination with Tom Verlaine, elements of be-bop and beat literature found their way on to the album. Because hed stopped drinking, he found that he couldnt perform, because it was always about him being pissed. [6] Becoming disillusioned by the evolution of punk rock into what he saw as strict formality, and feeling that reggae was an import, Pierce developed a keen interest in and extensive knowledge of the Delta blues, taking influence and inspiration from his own culture's history. Music, The Quietus, The Guardian, NME and Shindig! Every generation since the boomers onwards has had a gateway band into the blues, and for those taken by punks brief but seismic blast, that group was The Gun Club. Pierce stated that he preferred Miami, and dismissed Fire of Love: "I can't even remember making it. At the center of this storm was Pierces voice. It stopped him doing what he wanted to do. But Jeffrey did make efforts to stay on top of all that sort of stuff. Elvis From Hell is directed by Heiko Lange and Jessica Andree, and it features interviews with artists including Nick Cave, Jack White, Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop, Jim Jarmusch, Mark Lanegan, Moby, and more. 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. Come back, Sid Vicious. From his days as a peroxided, Debbie Harry-fixated Los Angeles teen-punk, through a lengthy era when he seemed convinced he could channel the spirit of Robert Johnson, to a more recent probe of the seedier side of continental balladry, Pierce who died of a cerebral blood clot in Utah at the end of March 1996 always . The confluence of tragedy and a type of bleak, resigned comedy. [32], In 2010, OFF!, a punk "supergroup" fronted by Keith Morris, formerly of Black Flag and the Circle Jerks, released a song dedicated to and named after Pierce. No mere nostalgia nothing so comforting. The three songs were "Ramblin' Mind", "Constant Waiting", and "Free To Walk", with further material uncovered over time to support the tribute project. It was just punk rock. Mori saw him one last time: It was his last day in London. What can you say about a record that you cut for 2500 bucks in 48 hours, on speed? 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. They were musical geniuses. I realize Im straying toward an authenticity-rockism I dont even believe in here, but I ought to note that however much I admire and even love Jeffrey Lee Pierce as a musician/artist, that by no means extends to any equivalent esteem for the train wreck of his personal life. Born. I didnt want to do anything like that., Mori: He was heavily into drugs and couldnt keep the tempo. The whole dynamic changed and he didnt sing as well because he was concentrating so much on playing the guitar. How about a title like Shes Like Heroin To Me? By now Pierce had begun to take his health more seriously and took up an unconventional method to lose weight. 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. "Death Party" (uncredited) 2012; Too Young to Die. He was always at our gigs selling his autograph. By then, his influence could be felt on the work of rootsier American outfits like Green on Red and on the new direction taken by Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds (which featured for a time the Gun Club refugee Kid Congo). Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. It is revered by many. 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 multi- talented Pierce wrote for Slash magazine as a Reggae reviewer and even lived in Jamaica for a bit. With The Gun Club well and truly over for the time being, Pierce embarked on a short-lived solo career. [26] However, on March 25, 1996, Pierce was found unconscious at his father's home in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hes also in the select group of music journalists to have actually got on with Lou Reed. His premature death at the age of 37 on March 31, 1996, was shrouded with a tragic inevitability, and sadly he never saw his legacy truly take shape while he was still alive. Jeffrey Lee Pierce: Age 37 | Cause Of Death: CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE By this time, Pierce had become obsessed with the ethereal music of the Cocteau Twins via Mori, and a chance encounter with the bands guitarist Robin Guthrie and singer Liz Fraser in the Hollywood Hills would lead to the reformation of The Gun Club with Guthrie in the producers chair. Line-up: Jeffrey Lee Pierce (vocals)/ Ward Dotson (guitar)/ Rob Ritter (bass) and Terry Graham (drums). Powers was by now living in Berlin and performing as guitarist with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, but accepted Pierce's offer and managed to combine working in both bands. 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. In 1993, the last Gun Club album, ironically entitled Lucky Jim, featured his Japanese wife, Romi Mori, on bass. Pierce bildade The Gun Club 1980 och de albumdebuterade ret efter med Fire of Love. Jeffrey was so into it and even asked if we wanted to split the writing credits, but we stupidly declined and just accepted a recording fee!, Powers concurs: It was like a completely new band and it was the strongest version that I was in.. The site covers music, art, culture, fashion, poetry and movies from the 60s through today. It was an even trade! laughs Powers. in exile: the rootless cosmopolitanism of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the We were all very relaxed and all good friends and we all really wanted to do it. Its like we had this idea that the band would repeat Fire of Love ad infinitum and wed all go home happy, so when expectations were dashed, much of the critical world scowled petulantly and turned away, never to turn fully back. 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. Pierce was also known for his strong admiration for Debbie Harry of Blondie, and was president of the Blondie fan club. She left him and began a relationship with her future husband, Nick Sanderson. Find a Grave memorial ID. In addition to directing the documentary, Andree and Lange will serve as producers alongside Scott Crary , Anahita Nazemi, Katrin Sandman and Alexander von Sturmfeder. He was a record nerd but we were also dreamers and into a lot of rocknroll fantasy. The blues was an anchor but we were very much into seeing what would happen if you mixed up different things. At times, it was a case of, This could be really good but youre really fucking it up. Other family and friends of Pierce provided additional material; Phast Phreddie Patterson submitted a copy of a homemade cassette recording of Pierce performing "My Cadillac" and "St. Mark's Place", which were pre-Gun Club recordings, and Cypress Grove obtained the two-inch master tapes of some song ideas they had recorded at the end of the Ramblin' Jeffrey Lee sessions.
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