Jeffrey Lee Pierce, for all intents and purposes, was the Gun Club. Texacala Jones noted that Pierce carried a handwritten note from Harry in his wallet with instructions on how she dyed her hair, including the types of products she used. The blues had provided the kindling, punk the flame. The former couplet is from Fire of Love and the latter The Gun Clubs 1993 curtain call, Lucky Jim. Produced by The Flesh Eaters Chris D and released in 1981, The Fire Of Love was the perfect distillation of Pierces vision of punk and blues coming together. Jeffreys voice was unbelievable, says Mori. 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. As fierce as he was in his own way, and I dont mean this in a disparaging sense, Lux Interior was pure premeditated camp, a character, a cartoon; whereas Jeffrey Lee Pierce was a regular-Joe name attached to a genuine anguished soul, rock and roll clich made flesh. With Pierces drinking escalating to the point of blackout, relations within the band rapidly deteriorated. A scheduled recording session for Tex & the Horseheads, the band Jeffrey Lee Pierce had put together around his girlfriend Linda/Texacala Jones was going to go unused. They were going to be playing that night and I said, Jeffrey! This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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. At the time of his death he survived by his large extended friends and family. Jeffrey Lee Pierce: Age 37 | Cause Of Death: CEREBRAL HEMORRHAGE Gun Club (Born:1958, Died 3-31-1996) It was an even trade! laughs Powers. When he was a teen-ager, he was president of the Blondie fan club. Since the death of Jeffrey Lee Pierce on March 31st of 1996, Creeping Ritual Music then became a vital resource for archiving. If he liked something, say, like a type of food, then hed eat that for months and months and then drop it and move on to something else. While Jeffrey was slipping into a coma and dying, I lived (totally oblivious) on 16 acres of unfarmed flood plain surrounded by mountains alongside my common law partner, my baby son, two big dogs, a Manx cat, a rooster. The album also contains a version of Robert Johnson's "Preachin' Blues" and the love song "Promise Me". But fantasy bled into reality and it was annoying to the band. 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 July 2, 1959 July 28, 1975 Were having a band. And that was that!. Between these two lies a solid body of work, though. Essaying the pop culture that matters since 1999. Jeffrey adored Debbie Harry and carried a signed note in his wallet from her which included hair dye instructions. The Gun Club's last ever gig, with bassist Elizabeth Montague replacing Bradbury, was at The Palace in Hollywood on December 18, 1995. Jeffrey Lee Pierce Wiki, Biography, Age, Career, Relationship, Net It was so sad.. It was just punk rock. The demon drink: Pierce gets to grips with his downfall. That was my audition! she laughs. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Despite the continued alcohol and drug abuse, Pierces talents were flourishing. He still made ends meet by working hard in a record store and contributing to music fanzines but, by 1981, he was at the helm of Gun Club, an impressive fourpiece (also featuring Kid Congo Powers on guitar, Rob Ritter on bass and Terry Graham on drums) who seemed to create their own brand of swampy, ramshackle, psychotic, blues- influenced music. If nothing else, the presence on Miami of the mutant-country Carry Home, a succinct storm-threat with swing, alone justifies its existence. The death of Jeffrey Lee Pierce by Rock Ink - Issuu With Pierces persona in place and a fascination for roots music that saw radical re-workings of Tommy Johnsons Cool Drink Of Water Blues and Robert Johnsons Preachin Blues (Up Jumped The Devil), The Gun Club soon developed a reputation for being a bands band and in turn attracted the interest of The Cramps, who offered Powers the job of replacing recently departed guitarist Bryan Gregory. It was just punk rock.. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). It is the only official release of the Jim Duckworth and Dee Pop line up of the band which existed for about eight months. 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). . But Im also amazed that you can make such great music when youre that fucked up on drink and drugs. Mr. Pierce is survived by his father, Bob, of Salt Lake City, his mother, Margie, and a sister, Jackie Faretra, both of Los Angeles. 9 October 2017. place of death. Patricia Morrison: So many bands came from us but we never got the recognition. Pierce continued working despite failing health, and reformed a Gun Club lineup for two shows in Los Angeles in August and September 1995, including guitarists Powers and Mike Martt, formerly of Tex & the Horseheads, and the Wayne Kramer rhythm section of bassist Randy Bradbury and drummer Brock Avery. And without the fire to shore us against the cold, the sadness can simply be overwhelming. Jeffrey Lee Pierce Death Fact Check, Birthday & Date of Death Pierce had a relationship with singer Texacala Jones, and together they formed the band Tex and the Horseheads, with Pierce providing arrangements of traditional songs and playing the guitar in some of their initial performances. 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. 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. Its the Cocteau Twins! We got talking with them and they were so friendly and invited us to their show that night at the Palace Theatre. We already had Sex Beat and For The Love Of Ivy, but having guys that could really play was a really big step up, says Powers. He had the idea that he wanted a Cocteau Twins kind of sound for it. By Gregg L. Friedman MD, I really miss the great musical groups of the 1960's. Marszalek taught music journalism at Middlesex University and co-ran the genre-fluid Stow Festival in Walthamstow for six years. At the center of this storm was Pierces voice. Julian Marszalek is the former Reviews Editor of The Blues Magazine. They were trying to come up with something that was so anti-everything it would piss everyone else off. Few escaped their scorn initially. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. The odd thing is that although they are understandably pigeonholed with fellow haunters of the gothic margins such as Cave and The Cramps, they were also different. 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. This stuff goes beyond appraisals of coolness or even value its like attempting to evaluate the worth of a tornado and suddenly, were asking the wrong questions. He was always at our gigs selling his autograph. Get our latest storiesin the feed of your favorite networks. 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. Hed have a few drinks at lunchtime first and then do a few rounds at the Holland Park running track. He said, Leave them! In November 1994, Pierce was arrested for brandishing a Samurai sword in his local pub in Kensington after an argument. Nick Cave based his whole universe on Jeffrey. Long-term alcohol abuse had left Pierce with cirrhosis of the liver and his enforced sobriety was having a detrimental personal and musical effect. For Patricia Morrison, it was the wonderment of seeing the world and playing music she loved. 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. Great Jeffrey Lee Pierce interview from 89. He was 37 years old. To understand Pierce's ambivalence toward Los Angeles requires looking further into the particular origins Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, the leader of Los Angeles punk band The Gun Club, is the subject of a new documentary, as Deadline reports. [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. I think that was very much part of his character. Indeed it was. 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.. Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Pierces self-interest, combined with the theft of Terry Grahams personal effects after a gig in Manchester, led to the departure of the drummer. 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. Ive waited 13 years to say goodbye to Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. He went on to work in a Los Angeles record store and to write about music for punk-oriented newspapers like Slash. It must have been so hard for him. [30], Pierce is honored by Thstrm in a 2005 song recording. But it was too good to last. The Gun Club Documentary 'Elvis From Hell' Coming In 2020 - Stereogum Hell, right off the bat you almost recoil from the light in Shirleys lips, fleetingly grasp the tiger in Debra Anns hips. [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. In July 1996, Tom Engelshoven of Dutch music magazine Oor described Jeffrey Lee Pierce as the missing link between the Eagles and Kurt Cobain. He was one of the founding members of the band The Gun Club, and released material as a solo artist. Jeffreys idea was to be as antagonistic as possible. Probably even The Cramps were better known. So enamoured was Pierce of the new name that he wrote Group Sex for them in return. Not even Elvis: I hate Elvis. Returning to London, hanging out with Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and guesting with the band on Bob Dylans Wanted Man at the Shepherds Bush Empire, and living alone in Moris apartment, Pierce was eventually deported to the United States in 1995 following a violent altercation in a west London pub that saw him waving a samurai sword. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. One minute he'd be talking about the fall of Saigon and the next minute hed be talking about the size of a dinosaur's brain. At the center of everything was Jeffrey Texas-born, Los Angeles raised a music fanzine writer, an obsessive Blondie stan (as a teenager, he was president of their fan club and was fairly regularly ousted from hotel rooms by members of the Blondie contingent for overstaying his welcome) with an unscratchable reggae itch and a compulsion for Delta blues as well as country murder ballads. 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. It was juvenile but very dramatic and the seeds of what would follow, says Powers. The lasting legacy of The Gun Club singer Jeffrey Lee Pierce Pierce was also an ardent admirer of Debbie Harry of Blondie, and became president of the band's West Coast fan club. 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.