The Gun Club | |
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 The Gun Club in 1983. From left to right: Terry Graham,Jeffrey Lee Pierce,Kid Congo Powers andPatricia Morrison. | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | The Cyclones, the Creeping Ritual |
| Origin | Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Genres | Post-punk,punk rock,psychobilly,alternative rock,punk blues,cowpunk |
| Years active | 1979–1996 |
| Labels | |
| Past members | Jeffrey Lee Pierce Kid Congo Powers Don Snowden Brad Dunning Terry Graham Rob Ritter Anna Statman Ward Dotson Billy Persons Annie Ungar Patricia Morrison Jim Duckworth Dee Pop Jimmy Joe Uliana Desi Desperate Romi Mori Nick Sanderson Simon Fish Rainer Lingk Robert Marche Efe Mike Martt Randy Bradbury Brock Avery Elizabeth Montague |
The Gun Club were an Americanpost-punk band from Los Angeles that existed from 1979 to 1996. Created and led by singer-songwriter and guitaristJeffrey Lee Pierce, they were notable as one of the first bands in thepunk rock subculture to incorporate influences fromblues,rockabilly, andcountry music. The Gun Club has been called a "tribalpsychobilly blues" band,[1] as well as initiators of thepunk blues soundcowpunk – "He (Pierce) tookRobert Johnson and pre-war acoustic blues and 'punkified' it. Up until then bands were drawing on Iggy & the Stooges and theNew York Dolls but he took it back so much further for inspiration."[2]
The Gun Club were formed byJeffrey Lee Pierce (guitar and vocals) with friend, chief of the Ramones fan club and fellow music enthusiast Brian Tristan, also known asKid Congo Powers.[3] Pierce was the former head of theBlondie fan club in Los Angeles and previously a member of the Red Lights, the E-Types,the Individuals, Phast Phreddie & Thee Precisions, and the Cyclones.[4]
The Gun Club's precursor band, the Creeping Ritual, formed in late 1979.[5] Along with Pierce (lead vocals and guitar), the first lineup consisted of Brian Tristan (lead guitar); Don Snowden (bass), who was at the time a music critic for theLos Angeles Times; and Brad Dunning (drums), now a prominent designer and writer.[5] In April 1980, they changed their name to "The Gun Club" on a suggestion by Pierce's roommate,Circle Jerks singerKeith Morris. Kid Congo commented that the early Gun Club incarnation were "too arty for rock people, far too rock for arty people, too cuckoo for the blues crowd and too American for punk".[6] Snowden and Dunning departed in June 1980, replaced by two ex-members of theBags,Rob Ritter and Terry Graham, respectively.[5] Ritter was temporarily replaced on bass by Anna Statman for two months in the fall of 1980.Kid Congo Powers then left, on amicable terms, to join the Cramps in November 1980 and was replaced by lead and slide guitarist Ward Dotson (ex-Der Stab) who had initially hoped to join the Cramps. During this period, the Gun Club often opened for X, the Bags, Circle Jerks and the Blasters.
Securing a record deal withRuby Records, a division ofSlash, the group released their debut album,Fire of Love, on August 31, 1981.[5] The album was produced byTito Larriva (ofthe Plugz) andChris D. (frontman of the Flesh Eaters). Critic Stevo Olende wrote that the "album's lyrical imagery is plundered fromvoodoo, '50sEC Comics and theblues", while Thom Jurek ofAllMusic noted that "nobody has heard music like this before or since".[7]Fire of Love sold well and received strong reviews upon release. Billy Persons ofthe Weirdos temporarily replaced Ritter for several shows in late 1981.
In April 1982, the Gun Club signed to Blondie guitaristChris Stein's Animal Records, a subsidiary ofChrysalis Records.[5] The band temporarily relocated to New York City to record their follow-up album, 1982'sMiami. This album featured not only Stein as producer, but Blondie'sDebbie Harry singing backup vocals on several tracks. Ritter left in June 1982 to concentrate on his other band,45 Grave, and changed his name to Rob Graves. Before leaving, Ritter taught the bass parts to his former Bags bandmatePatricia Morrison (also ex-Legal Weapon) and trained her as his replacement. For their West Coast shows in August 1982, Annie Ungar was added as a second guitarist. Upon the release ofMiami on September 20, 1982, the album received good reviews but has been criticized for Stein's thin production. Due to increasingly frequent arguments, Pierce dismissed Graham and Dotson in December 1982.
In January 1983, Graham and Dotson were replaced by guitaristJim Duckworth (formerly ofTav Falco's Panther Burns) and drummer Dee Pop (formerly of the New York bandBush Tetras). A spare recording session, originally booked for another band, led to the impromptu recording of theDeath Party EP with bassist Jimmy Joe Uliana quickly filling in for Morrison and Linda "Texacala" Jones on backing vocals.[8] Released April 13, 1983, by Animal, it was the only recording of the short-lived lineup featuring Duckworth and Pop. During this time Pierce refrained from playing guitar, focusing solely on singing. After eight months Graham returned, replacing Pop, and on the eve of the October 1983 Australian tour, both Duckworth and Graham quit, refusing to board the plane. Arriving minus half the band, Pierce recruited drummer Billy Pommer Jr. and guitaristSpencer P. Jones from support actthe Johnnys to fill in on the tour, while former member Powers also flew over to play guitar. When they returned to the US in November, Graham resumed his place on drums.[9]
Pierce returned to guitar playing during this lineup, and both he and Powers are credited with guitar on their third album,The Las Vegas Story (the Blasters'Dave Alvin also played lead guitar on a handful of tracks). Released on June 25, 1984, this album marked a significant change for the band; it represented a shift away from the punk rock ofFire of Love andMiami and a step towards a more polishedalternative rock sound. After US gigs supportingSiouxsie and the Banshees, in September the band embarked on a European tour in support of the album, but after five weeks Graham again departed after a gig in Paris. The band carried on and he was replaced with former roadie Peter Kablean, known as Desi Desperate, despite having no rehearsal. The Gun Club broke up in January 1985, Pierce remaining in London with then-girlfriend Romi Mori, who he had met during the final December 10–11 shows at Dingwalls, London.[5]
After the breakup, Powers, Morrison and Desperate formed a band called Fur Bible (Morrison later joinedthe Sisters of Mercy andthe Damned), while Pierce embarked on a solo career. Pierce assembled a band, the Jeffrey Lee Pierce Quartet, consisting of former members ofthe Cure andRoxy Music, and releasedWildweed in 1985. He organized a new band to tour in support of the album, including Mori on guitar andNick Sanderson ofClock DVA on drums.
After a short stint doing spoken word performances, Pierce decided to reform a new version of the band in October 1986.[10] Powers, who had also been recruited intoNick Cave and the Bad Seeds at this time, resumed his place at guitar, with Mori switching to bass and Sanderson retaining his spot on drums. This lineup of the Gun Club recorded a handful of albums, includingMother Juno, released October 19, 1987, onRed Rhino Records. This album, produced byRobin Guthrie ofthe Cocteau Twins, was a successful comeback, garnering a positive critical reception.[5] After the release of Nick Cave's albumThe Good Son, Powers departed from the Bad Seeds in May 1990 to focus more on the Gun Club.
The band's fifth studio effort,Pastoral Hide and Seek, which Pierce produced himself, was released October 1, 1990, on theFire label. Sanderson departed in December 1990 to focus on his other project, World of Twist. Desperate rejoined to record theDivinity album, released in August 1991 on New Rose Records, but the band were inactive during the remainder of that year as Pierce was hospitalized during his travels in India and Vietnam. Pierce also recorded withCypress Grove.
Simon Fish, who had previously played with Pierce on one of his solo albums, joined the band in March 1992. At the conclusion of a European tour in May 1992, Powers left the band to focus on his other project,Congo Norvell. In February 1993, the band reconvened as a trio of Pierce, Mori and the returning Sanderson, to record theLucky Jim album. For their spring 1993 European tour, they were joined by guitarist Rainer Lingk ofDie Haut.Lucky Jim was released September 20, 1993, byTriple X Records, and Robert Marche (formerly ofSubway Sect andJoBoxers) joined on guitar in October.
In May 1994, Mori and Pierce split up, and she and Sanderson left the Gun Club (Mori and Sanderson formedFreeheat in 1999 withJim Reid andBen Lurie ofthe Jesus and Mary Chain). Sanderson and Marche formed Earl Brutus. In the fall of 1994, Pierce put together a new lineup featuring Marche, bassist Efe and the returning Fish, lasting until November.
An increasingly ill Pierce put together a penultimate Gun Club lineup for two shows in Los Angeles in August and September 1995, including guitarists Powers andMike Martt (ex-Tex & the Horseheads), and theWayne Kramer rhythm section of bassist Randy Bradbury and drummer Brock Avery. The final lineup of the Gun Club, with bassist Elizabeth Montague replacing Bradbury (who was touring withPennywise), played only one show, the band's last, atThe Palace in Hollywood on December 18, 1995.
On March 25, 1996, Pierce was found unconscious at his father's home inSalt Lake City, Utah. He was hospitalized and remained in a coma until his death from abrain hemorrhage on March 31, effectively ending the Gun Club.[5]
The White Stripes played "For the Love of Ivy" and "Jack on Fire" (both fromFire of Love) at live shows. That band's vocalist and guitarist,Jack White, said, "'Sex Beat', 'She's Like Heroin to Me', and 'For the Love of Ivy'...why are these songs not taught in schools?"[11]
Swedish punk and rock singer-songwriterJoakim Thåström has referenced the Gun Club and Pierce in several songs, including "Ingen sjunger blues som Jeffrey Lee Pierce", "Samarkanda" and "Beväpna dig med vingar".
SingerMark Lanegan includedMiami among his favorite recordings,[12] and covered Pierce's "Carry Home" on his 1999 album of cover songs,I'll Take Care of You.
Canadian rock bandJapandroids included "For The Love of Ivy" on their sophomore albumCelebration Rock. Brian King (vocalist/guitarist) said "the magnitude of discovering The Gun Club cannot be understated."[13]
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