Gun Club
The Gun Club channelled punk energy into a vivid exploration of
American roots music, drawing on rockabilly, country and the Delta
blues. The Los Angeles punk-blues quartet were led by hell raiser
and former Blondie fan club president
Jeffrey Lee Pierce.
Fuelled by the feral slide guitar of Ward Dotson, 1981's debut Fire
Of Love (recorded in just two days) found Pierce howling new
life into Robert Johnson and Tommy Johnson classics, alongside
self-penned psycho-billy blasters such as She's Like Heroin To
Me and For The Love Of Ivy.
Chris Stein produced the mutant swamp-rock of their second
album Miami, while 1987's Mother Juno was a
punchy gem, and 1993's Lucky Jim a ghostly swansong.
Founding guitarist Kid Congo Powers left and rejoined twice,
moonlighting in The Cramps and Nick
Cave & The Bad Seeds. By the
mid-80s, rhythm section Rob Ritter (who died of a heroin overdose
in 1991) and Terry Graham had given way to players including Sisters
Of Mercy/The Damned bassist Patricia
Morrison and Jesus & Mary
Chain drummer Nick Sanderson.
As a man whose liver, pancreas and stomach gave up the ghost
mid-career, and who was often wheeled on-stage in a shocking
drink/drugs mess, Jeffrey Lee's lifestyle often eclipsed the
band's music. A hopeless romantic, when sober he was an endearing,
passionate sweetheart obsessed with William Burroughs, Blondie and
free jazz. When he was drunk he became a belligerent nightmare.
His death from a brain haemorrhage on 31 March 1996 (at the age
of 37) marked the end of the band after 16 years and countless
line-up changes.
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