After six months in Japan, Pierce and Mori returned to London in August 1986, with Pierce intending to reform the Gun Club. I knew the situation he was in: he couldnt drink and he so he needed something else. 4 references. Jeffrey Lee Pierce, fdd 27 juni 1958 [ 1] i Montebello, Kalifornien, [ 2] dd 31 mars 1996 [ 1] i Salt Lake City, Utah, [ 3] var en amerikansk rockmusiker, frontfigur i det Los Angeles -baserade punkbandet The Gun Club . DEATH PARTY - EP (13-Apr-83) 01.The House On Highland Ave 02.The Lie 03.The Light Of The World 04.Death Party 05.Come Back Jim Line-up: Jeffrey Lee Pierce (vocals)/ Jim Duckworth (guitar)/ Jimmy Joe Uliana (bass) and Dee Pop (drums). The Gun Club Documentary 'Elvis From Hell' Coming In 2020 - Stereogum Certainly the two bands share an intertwined history, not least thanks to Kid Congo Powers, the scrawny primitive-intuitive guitarist who initially joined Pierce after getting drunk together at a Pere Ubu concert before defecting to his idols once they summoned him (with Jeffreys magnanimous blessings). 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. He was 37 years old. No two gigs were ever the same on that tour.. cause of death. But I think it was very difficult for him Jeffrey very often didnt make sense. THIS IS WHATS COOL! [48], Jeffrey's Blues was a documentary filmed in 1989, directed by Bram van Splunteren for VPRO's Onrust and re-edited with unseen footage in 2016. Find a Grave. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Menu. In a 2012 interview with Gun Club biographer Gene Temesy, Nick Cave, a great admirer of the frontman, said: "With Jeffrey, you pretty much entered his world when you saw him. Bandmate Kid Congo Powers is interviewed, among others, in the documentary below. David Antrobus is a former youth worker and a writer (for. The latter acted as producer on Miami, the second Gun Club album, which also featured Debbie Harry on backing vocals. Not that you can blame him, given Pierces increasingly erratic substance-augmented behavior. At his suggestion, their next album, Mother Juno, was recorded at Hansa studios. His last TV appearance was with the Bad Seeds on Later with Jools Holland, recorded on May 14, 1994.[21]. 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". His demise is another sad reminder that the rock 'n' roll life-style can also lead to oblivion. It was so sad.. 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). Bath This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Pierces behaviour on and off the stage soon began to be counterproductive: The other guys in the band were very antagonised by him. [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." But fantasy bled into reality and it was annoying to the band. The blues had provided the kindling, punk the flame. Come on! Lange and Andree will also co-produce, along with Alexander von Sturmfeder, under their Scenes From banner. On top of Pierces fascination with Tom Verlaine, elements of be-bop and beat literature found their way on to the album. Edit. Suddenly the songwriting just happened. Its fair to say that the band fell almost completely off my radar at some point after 1985 (having picked up, and loved, that years excellent solo release Wildweed, one of my emigration casualties, sadly), so the news of Jeffreys death at age 37 of a brain-hemorrhage on March 31,1996 eluded me entirely. Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy. More images. I want his head cut off and his brain taken out. Line-up: Jeffrey Lee Pierce (vocals)/ Ward Dotson (guitar)/ Rob Ritter (bass) and Terry Graham (drums). Formed in 1979 and based around the core of frontman Jeffrey Lee Pierce, The Gun Club drew deeply from the well of American vernacular music and infused it with the stripped down energy and elemental values of punk rock. IMDb ID. 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. "[34] At live performances, Morris has introduced "Jeffrey Lee Pierce" with a tribute to Pierce and their close friendship, describing the song as a "eulogy".[35][36][37]. Long before anyone coined the term mosh pit, my enduring memory of that concert, aside from its sheer mesmeric ebullience, is of the ripe full-body bruising I got to gingerly explore at my hungover leisure the following day. Essaying the pop culture that matters since 1999. 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. 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. Stack O Lee. Jeffrey Lee Pierce's been dead and buried for some years 3 now. [18] Another album from that period is Ramblin' Jeffrey Lee and Cypress Grove with Willie Love, which consists mainly of cover versions of blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Skip James. Outwardly, I might have been a character in a Gun Club song, thankfully absent all the mayhem, betrayal, and sex killing. But for those who played in The Gun Club and suffered the outrageous behaviour, demands and whims of Jeffrey Lee Pierce, there remains an enormous sense of pride at what was created. [27][28], The French rock band Noir Dsir paid tribute to Pierce in the song "Song for JLP", from its 1996 album 666667 Club. "[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. 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. By coincidence, Robin and Liz were walking towards us, remembers Mori. I was just sat there having coffee waiting for him to come back from scoring and it just wasnt right any more. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. writer: "The Stranger in Our Town" TV Series; 2012; 1 episode; Personal details. Biography - Jeffrey Lee Pierce The film will cover the singer/guitarist's life and career through his death in 1996 at age 37 from causes related to heroin addiction, alcoholism, and HIV. 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. Youd go places and everybody was in on it, she says. Pierce was also an ardent admirer of Debbie Harry of Blondie, and became president of the band's West Coast fan club. It was started by Pierce, who was the president of Blondies U.S. fan club, whose lead singer Debbie Harry was a longtime supporter. Originally released on the LA-based Ruby Label, Fire of Love attracted much interest in Europe and was picked up by the Beggars Banquet label for the UK while France's New Rose acquired the rights for that territory. And in a handful of others Like Calling Up Thunder, The Fire of Love, and Mother of Earth Pierces absorption of all those influences, his near-assimilation by the prevailing ancient creepiness of American roots music spliced with the then-still-novel exuberance of punk, allowed him to hunker down and create something not only timeless but seamless, as if Johnny Cash, Johnny Thunders, and Johnny Rotten had dropped all their differences in order to embrace whatever nameless idolatry secretly united them. 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. June 27, 1958; Died. We were record collectors and fans and at a super young age had dedicated our lives to that, recalls Powers. His relationship to the blues, in particular, is complex. Perhaps the severing of any ties to that troubled music was a gift from my subconscious. He died on 31 March 1996 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Thats why I wanted to join the band. A call was made from Australia to Kid Congo Powers. 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 . Indeed, in interviews, an increasingly bitter Pierce had begun to refer to his work as being "full of weaknesses". Wildweed's monochrome cover shot, of Pierce stood in a windswept barren landscape with a shotgun over his shoulder, was photographed on the south coast of England, as Pierce told a Swedish interviewer, but intended to "look like Texas. 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. Jeffrey Lee Pierce - Wikidata Theres a clip out there of him performing Alabama Blues by Robert Wilkins, which seems wrenchingly poignant to me, the woe writ large on his face, the naked self-deprecation at the end after he stumbles, the hollow weariness when he looks right into the camera, even his apparent lack of awareness at the questionable spectacle of a white man singing Brownskin women, gonna be the death of [me]. Perhaps he no longer cared. 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). He represents the Americana I hate. So Chapter 1: Verse 1 in the Punk Bible, then. 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. Mr. Pierce, a singer and guitarist, began his career in music as a fan and critic. They were musical geniuses. Im glad that those records mean something to people and I hear that all the time, and Im really proud of that.. Recording wasfine but live it all changed.. Pierces self-interest, combined with the theft of Terry Grahams personal effects after a gig in Manchester, led to the departure of the drummer. 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. The sessions were recorded with acoustic guitars in Grove's bedroom using a "boombox" device. Find a Grave memorial ID. And speaking of language, Ive tried to avoid it, but his last name even rhymes with fierce. Its counterintuitive, and often, at its most abject, unforeseen beauty lurks. Youre really pushing everyone away from us.. So bookends of sorts: one darkly prosodic, the other starkly prosaic: one running frenzied from the swamp-demons of the past, the other recoiling in vain from the keening horror of an unspeakable future. He'd come almost every day and just sit on the couch and then he'd come out to dinner with us and just mumble away. When the singing is this ferally on, you can forgive the slight reduction of everything else in the mix. 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). At night, the coyotes would howl as the moon rose over the peak to the east, and occasionally, a lone cougar would descend from the hills. Jeffrey adored Debbie Harry and carried a signed note in his wallet from her which included hair dye instructions. Emptiness and defiance. What can you say about a record that you cut for 2500 bucks in 48 hours, on speed? Jeffreys idea was to be as antagonistic as possible. The maddening part for me is that I missed most of it. Growing up in the wild So Cal punk scene formed Amy's aesthetic and broadened her horizons. At no point did The Gun Club ever really break into the broader public consciousness. Listen to The Birthday Party before and after Jeffrey. In November 1994, Pierce was arrested for brandishing a Samurai sword in his local pub in Kensington after an argument. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 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. 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. At the time of his death, he was 38 years old. Love in a cold climate: Romi Mori and Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Jeffrey Lee Pierce (June 27, 1958 March 31, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and author. Yes. The Parisian rock elite, always in love with tragic figures like Morrison, Thunders and Iggy Pop, had found a new hero. Birthday: June 27, 1958 Date of Death: March 31, 1996 Age at Death: 37 Live Live Death Statistics Worldwide and The United States Jeffrey Lee Pierce - Biography [13] Pierce relocated to England with Mori and concentrated on his solo career. At this point, Jeffrey was a musical archaeologist; he even began to dress on stage like some squat Indiana Jones, at once furtive and feral, his search for something priceless within the buried sediments of ages almost a holy one. That period was a lot of trial and error and luckily more of it was working than not, but that nihilistic streak and antagonism that was coming from him was needed at the time. With the band ready to board a connecting flight bound for Australia, Duckworth and Graham quit thanks to Pierces unreasonable demands. He was digging. He was always at our gigs selling his autograph. His obsessions crawled all over him. Toward the end of his life, Jeffrey Lee Pierce increasingly embraced a more traditional blues, as if hed lost interest in the future altogether. 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. In 1979, following in the footsteps of the Germs, the Dead Kennedys and the Dickies, Pierce formed his own punk band, Creeping Ritual. Because hed stopped drinking, he found that he couldnt perform, because it was always about him being pissed. EXCLUSIVE: Jeffrey Lee Pierce, frontman singer of seminal LA punk rock band The Gun Club, is the subject of a new feature documentary. We were talking about doing something in New York and calling it The Gun Club and getting some local players. Pierce returned to Europe to play more shows, culminating in the Quartet's final gig on December 27 in London. He touches on Nick Cave, The Cramps, and how R.E.M. 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. 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. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. When I told Jeffrey that Id been asked to join The Cramps, he said, Do it, but get us gigs! With Powers joining The Cramps to record their second album, Psychedelic Jungle, The Gun Club recruited slide guitarist Ward Dotson and set about making their debut album, Fire Of Love. We were not a band that was poker-faced; you could see what was going on. Jeffrey Lee Pierce Wiki, Biography, Age, Career, Relationship, Net The Gun Club went on to release 11 other live and studio albums, and Mr. Pierce recorded two relatively straightforward solo albums. [44], The Journey is Long, the second album from the project, was released in April 2012 and features The Jim Jones Revue, Barry Adamson, Warren Ellis of The Dirty Three, Steve Wynn of Dream Syndicate, as well as artists from the first album. Born in Texas in 1958, Jeffrey Lee Pierce later moved to the West Coast. [citation needed], The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project is a tribute initiative launched after Cypress Grove, one of Pierce's musical collaborators, cleaned out his loft following Pierce's death. 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. 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. Turns out its arguably their most intriguing album, too. Pierce's autobiography, Go Tell The Mountain, goes into detail about the personal turmoil he experienced during the late 1980s and early 1990s. is trying to be like The Byrds, but just arent as good. 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.). 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. He was very hard work. It was an even trade! laughs Powers. 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. 5", "THE GUN CLUB The Las Vegas Story Punk Blues Vinyl Album Gallery #vinylrecords", "From The Archives -The Gun Club- Concert Chronology / Gigography", "iTunes Music Wildweed by Jeffrey Lee Pierce", "The Quietus | Features | A Quietus Interview | Kid Congo Powers Interview: From Gun Play To Monkey Business", "Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Setlist at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht", "Nick Cave on Jeffrey Lee Pierce: 'His Obsessions Crawled All Over Him', "Gun Club Oral History, Part Four (Pastoral Hide and Seek to 1996)", "an interview w/ Keith Morris & Dimitri Coats of OFF! What can you say about a record that you cut for 2500 bucks in 48 hours, on speed? Hed go for a run every lunchtime, says Mori. He was being deported and he needed somebody to take him to the airport. But it was too good to last. The 1992 album Ramblin Jeffrey Lee & Cypress Grove with Willie Love was in effect his final paean to that musical style, from acoustic Mississippi Delta to electric Windy City. So we went and kept in contact, and it was decided that the next album should be recorded with Robin., She continues: Jeffrey had been wanting to record The Breaking Hands and he knew that he wanted loads of bells on it, so he figured that Robin would be perfect for it. Born. Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. [3] He started learning guitar at the age of 10. So that first Gun Club album, he was really into blues music, The Las Vegas Story he was into Television, Wildweed was Bob Dylan and Mother Juno was the Cocteau Twins., The new band gelled particularly well. He was very unusual and a very unique guy. 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. Death Certificate Index Pierce, Jeffrey Lee Certificate Number: 1975-MN-017354 Death: July 28, 1975 County of Death: Itasca County Mother's Maiden Name: SCHAEFFER Date of Birth: Jul 2 1959 Place of Birth: MINNESOTA. 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. We really liked the songs. Jeffrey Lee Pierce Birthday and Date of Death Jeffrey Lee Pierce was born on June 27, 1958 and died on March 31, 1996. Jeffreys idea was to be as antagonistic as possible. Jeffrey was 37 years old at the time of death. The Gun Clubs 1981 debut Fire of Love was rarely off my turntable in those days. That became the title of their album. 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). Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in, Please refresh your browser to be logged in, Extra 20% off selected fashion and sportswear at Very, Get up to 10% off using the Booking.com app, $6 off a $50+ order with this AliExpress discount code, 15% off orders over 15 using this eBay discount code, Compare broadband packages side by side to find the best deal for you, Compare cheap broadband deals from providers with fastest speed in your area, All you need to know about fibre broadband, Best Apple iPhone Deals in the UK April 2023, Compare iPhone contract deals and get the best offer this April, Compare the best mobile phone deals from the top networks and brands. Four months after the Gun Club frontman had passed away, the article labeled him as the true victim of what Engelshoven interpreted as "the American disease."
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