Anton Fier | |
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 Fier in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | John Anton Fier III (1956-06-20)June 20, 1956 |
| Died | September 14, 2022(2022-09-14) (aged 66) Basel, Switzerland |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instrument | Drums |
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | The Lounge Lizards,The Feelies,Pere Ubu,The Golden Palominos,Swans |
John Anton Fier III (June 20, 1956 – September 14, 2022) was an American drummer, producer, composer, and bandleader. He ledThe Golden Palominos, an experimental rock group active from 1981 to 2010.
Fier, known as Tony, was born inCleveland,Ohio, to Ruthe Marie Fier and Anton J. Fier Jr., a former Marine and electrician.[1] His parents separated when he was young and he lived with his stepfather, a polka musician.[1]
In the mid-late-1970s Fier worked in a record store, began drumming, and contributed to recordings byThe Styrenes andPere Ubu, which he joined in 1977 and left in 1978 when he moved to New York City.[1] The 1978 Pere Ubu EP titledDatapanik in the Year Zero was dedicated to Fier, who doesn't play on it.
In New York City, he got a job at SoHo Music Gallery where he had the chance to talk with musicians.[1] Answering an ad in theVillage Voice,[1] he became a member ofThe Feelies in 1978, playing drums on their critically acclaimed debut albumCrazy Rhythms.[2]
From June 1981 through February 1982 Fier re-joined Pere Ubu, replacing original drummer Scott Krauss. He played drums, piano, marimba and other percussion on their fifth album,Song of the Bailing Man.[3]
Around that time, he was inThe Lodge (withJohn Greaves) and played in the first line-up ofThe Lounge Lizards, appearing ontheir 1981 debut album.[4][2] Later that year, Fier foundedThe Golden Palominos, which initially featuredArto Lindsay,John Zorn,Bill Laswell andFred Frith but later became a loose collective of musicians Fier was working with at the moment.
In the mid 1980s, he was briefly a member ofRichard Hell and the Voidoids.[4] He was also a member ofSwans, appearing on their 1991 album,White Light from the Mouth of Infinity.
Fier collaborated extensively withBill Laswell,[2]Arto Lindsay, andRhys Chatham. He also toured and recorded withBob Mould fromHüsker Dü[5] and played with bassistJack Bruce and Japanese guitarist Kenji Suzuki on the 1987 albumInazuma Super Session – "Absolute Live!!"
Fier played on theJohn Zorn-led albumLocus Solus in 1983. 20 years later, Fier, Zorn and Lindsay recorded a live album for Zorn's 50th birthday celebration:50th Birthday Celebration Volume 3 of the50th birthday series onTzadik Records. In 1984, he played onLaurie Anderson'sMister Heartbreak.
Fier also contributed to records fromthe Electric Eels,Yoko Ono,Mick Jagger,Material,Herbie Hancock,Gil Scott-Heron,Peter Blegvad,Matthew Sweet,Stina Nordenstam,Lloyd Cole,Los Lobos,David Cunningham,Joe Henry,Afrika Bambaataa, andJeff Buckley.
Fier produced several albums, such as the 1988 album ofDrivin' n Cryin'Whisper Tames the Lion,[6] a 2009 album by guitar virtuosoJim Campilongo titledOrange,[7] and Lianne Smith'sTwo Sides of a River, on which Fier also played drums.[8]
Fier was briefly romantically involved with hisGolden Palominos bandmateLori Carson in the 1990s.[9]
Syd Straw, a member of the Golden Palominos, posted onFacebook on October 11, 2019, that Fier was no longer playing drums.[10]
Fier died on September 14, 2022, at the age of 66, at the Pegasos Clinic, in Basel, Switzerland, of VAD (Voluntary Assisted Dying) orassisted suicide.[11][12][13][14] According toExit International directorPhilip Nitschke, Fier was not suffering from terminal illness, but "wanted to die on his own terms after feeling he had accomplished everything he could in life."[15] Golden Palominos guitaristNicky Skopelitis was Fier's friend and the executor of his estate.[14] Fier's cremated remains were delivered to Skopelitis along with a cremation notice, indicating the date of death as September 14, 2022. As noted inThe Independent, Fier reportedly had left a final letter, in which he wrote "My father died at 42, and my mother at 52. I never expected or prepared myself to live this long and had no example of how to properly do so."[15] Fier's friends reported the musician had money troubles and injuries which hampered his drumming, and had discussed the possibility of ending his life for several years.[14]
In November 2022,the Feelies performed a tribute concert for Fier who had recently passed.
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