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‘The Las Vegas Story’ story: Interview with Gun Club producer Jeff Eyrich
06.17.2022
07:52 am
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Because I love all of their albums so very much, it’s difficult for me to say which is my favorite Gun Club album—it’s Mother Juno, but just by a hair—and much easier to pick out my favorite Gun Club song. That would be “Walking with the Beast” from The Las Vegas Story.  (“Lupita Screams,” “Death Party” and “The Lie” run close behind.)

“Walking with the Beast” is a motherfucking motherfucker of a song. It grabs you by the throat and and shakes you until you are limp. Patricia Morrison’s rumbling bass, Kid Congo Powers’ feedback-driven power chords, and Terry Graham’s POUNDING drums almost attack the listener. It’s heavier than any heavy metal. For those of you reading this who have never had the pleasure, “Walking with the Beast” is simply the musical equivalent to looking up at the sky and realizing that a violent tornado is about to overtake you.

(I’d have embedded the song here, but YouTube currently lacks even a single upload of the studio version. I direct you then to your favorite streaming service. PLAY IT LOUD.)

When an album starts off that strong, you would think that it’s all downhill from there, but there’s one classic Gun Club winner after another, including two leftfield cover versions. At the start of side two, a skronky snippet of Pharoah Sanders’ “The Creator Was A Master Plan” segues into a plaintiff take on “My Man’s Gone Now,” the widow Serena’s aria from from George Gershwin’s classic opera Porgy and Bess. On paper, that shouldn’t work, but it does, spectacularly so.

I’ve bragged on this blog many times about seeing Gun Club live—one of the best, most exciting live shows I’ve ever seen in a long career of concert going—but what I didn’t realize until recently is that the band that I saw—Morrison, Graham, Kid Congo—didn’t last but a few more shows, when drummer Graham snuck out in the middle of the night and returned to America after discovering he wasn’t going to be paid for the tour. The incarnation of the Gun Club that recorded The Las Vegas Story, that everyone tends to see as the most iconic era of Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s revolving door of a band, lasted but a single year.

I got to see one of my all-time favorite bands, supporting one of my all-time favorite albums, but just by the skin of my teeth. Five days later Graham would leave the band, for the third and final time.

There is a new “super deluxe” release today of The Las Vegas Story on double vinyl and as a two CD set along with a DVD of “home movies” from some American tour dates of 1984 (shot by Terry Graham and his girlfriend) from Blixa Sounds.

I asked The Las Vegas Story‘s producer Jeff Eyrich some questions via email.

How did you get involved with the Gun Club?

I’m from L.A. and was aware of the band from the L.A. scene at that time — from working with (producing) the Plimsouls and the Blasters. I had never seen the Gun Club play live but I knew them by name, maybe heard a track or two on the radio. I got a call from Ron Faire who was a young A&R guy at Chrysalis records and he asked if I’d be interested in producing Gun Club — that he really didn’t understand or ‘get’ their music but that they sold a lot of records overseas. He added that the budget was minimal and that he’d like to get it done in 2 weeks,  start to finish. I was between projects at the time so I met with Jeffrey Lee and Kid Congo to get an idea of what they wanted to do, what the songs were — they played me some stuff on a cassette — I liked what I heard and I was impressed by how serious Jeffrey Lee was about his music, his vision, and how supportive Kid was about helping Jeffrey Lee see his vision through. I sensed that there was somewhat of a ‘risk’ factor involved but I was up for the challenge, especially given the budget and time constraints but I felt we could pull it off.

What was your take on Jeffrey Lee?

Jeffrey Lee was very serious about his music and he had a vision for the record… so much so that I felt that my role as producer on this project was basically to facilitate Jeffrey’s vision — for me to set the stage, make sure everybody was comfortable in the studio (sightlines were very important since this was a live band), that the sounds were happening right away so we could capture the spontaneity of the moment, and to keep things moving forward. We recorded the record at Ocean Way’s studio B. I mention ‘sightlines’ being crucial, as studio B is like two basketball courts side by side separated by a floor-to-ceiling glass wall. I had Terry and Patricia on one side and Jeffrey Lee and Kid Congo on the other. Jeffrey Lee and Kid had their amps turned up real loud.

We had one pre-production rehearsal that was somewhat chaotic but the one thing I took from it was how solid, simple and groovin’ Terry and Patricia were as a rhythm section. I knew from experience that whatever Jeffrey Lee and Kid did on top of that rhythm section we were going to have something that felt great.

What was he like to work with?

I found Jeffrey Lee, and everybody in the band — Terry, Patricia, and Kid Congo — very easy to work with… reasonable, communicative, respectful. No problems… on time… there to work and to make music.

What was the drug situation like in the studio?

I wasn’t aware of any drugs in the studio. The vibe in the studio was really good, the sounds happening (thank you mark ettel) — everything was happening so easily. Any drugs would’ve just fucked that up. That being said… I don’t do drugs and didn’t at that time so maybe I was just oblivious but nobody seemed drunk or stoned to me.

Did everyone realize at the time what a seminal album had been created?

I think that everybody was happy with the result and that everybody hoped for the best for the record — mission accomplished — on time and on budget. Maybe not the kind of record Chrysalis was adept at promoting, unfortunately. After I finished the mastering and turned the record in I was off to the next project — I believe it was T-bone Burnett’s Proof Through the Night— and I lost touch with the band.

But I remember about six months later running into the Gun Club in Paris — they were on tour over there — and they invited me to the show. I went and wound up mixing their sound that night. It was crazy, loud, and primal… but really good.
 

This performance was taped in Newcastle on October 19th, 1984 for ‘The Tube’ and is probably the best video representation of this short-lived classic Gun Club line-up
 

The new “super deluxe” expanded reissue includes a DVD of ‘1984 Home Movie: The Gun Club On The Road’

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.17.2022
07:52 am
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Walking with the Beast: The Gun Club’s Jeffrey Lee Pierce is ‘Preaching the Blues’
01.05.2022
02:21 pm
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Jeffrey Lee Pierce, the long deceased leader of the Gun Club, has been variously described as brilliant, tortured, visionary, even lovable, but mostly he seems to be recalled as an utterly contemptible asshole and colossally detestable fucked up junkie and drunk. This doesn’t mean he’s not one of the finest and most important musicians of the post-punk era—because he most certainly is that, too—just that it’s difficult to find anyone, anyone at all, willing to say something nice about him. Exhibit A would be Ghost on the Highway, Kurt Voss’s 2006 Gun Club documentary. You’re not supposed to speak ill of the dead, but what if that’s all there is to say about someone?

To be honest, knowing that Jeffrey Lee Pierce was a major jerk does absolutely nothing to change my opinion of the man. It’s got nothing to do with appreciating Pierce’s art. Anyone who has ever explored the recorded output of the Gun Club finds there, if not a criminally overlooked musical and lyrical genius, then a savant who channeled his own authentic, mutant strain of the Blues. I once read that the Texas-born Pierce had an epiphany about marrying punk rock with Marty Robbins’ cowboy songs and that this is what animated the unique sound of the Gun Club. That is an extremely inspired idea if you ask me and that musical vehicle became Pierce’s lifetime muse. You can always tell a Gun Club song from the first few bars. Even if the band’s personnel changed over the years, the signature sound that Pierce and company generated under the Gun Club moniker always remained remarkably consistent. 

The Gun Club (read: Jeffrey Lee) was well known for being magic or tragic live, but when I saw them perform at the Electric Ballroom in London in 1984, it was one of the very best, most memorable concerts that I have ever attended. The group was touring in support of The Las Vegas Story, an especially strong album. It was my 19th birthday and I was extremely stoned and as drunk as a skunk before I even got there. I reckon the only person in the venue drunker than me that night was Jeffrey Lee himself, who sat drinking alone at the upstairs bar while the opening act—the Scientists—played their set. I stood directly at the front and at one point Pierce drunkenly fell off the stage and right on top of me, but neither one of us felt any pain. Kid Congo Powers and Patricia Morrison were in the band then and visually those two, plus Pierce looked really amazing onstage together. Terry Graham’s drumming was ferocious. The noise they made was HUGE, and fearsome. They opened with “Walking With the Beast” and it was awe-inspiring. Considering the heroically inebriated state of their frontman, they were incredibly tight, and notably so. His unintentional stage dive on my head notwithstanding, musically Pierce hit all of his marks and was in fine voice. It didn’t last. Within a few short months, this iconic Gun Club line-up would fall apart. 

It’s been a quarter century since Pierce’s death, but in recent years, it’s become easier for the Gun Club to gain new fans than it ever was during the band’s lifespan. Whether they’re stumbling across them in record stores, via streaming, or through big ups from Nick Cave, Jack White, Debbie Harry and many others, of late there seems to have been a significant uptick of awareness of the profound and combustible talents of America’s premiere Mexican-American post punk Southern Gothic voodoo bluesman. There’s even an official Jeffrey Lee Pierce feature documentary, Elvis from Hell, that’s been in production since 2019. I think he’s an artist who’ll be “rediscovered” every few years.  
 

 
And if you aren’t already a Gun Club fan, dear reader, what are you waiting for? Every canonical Gun Club album is either a masterpiece, a near masterpiece or at least really, really fucking good and although there exists an over generous surfeit of legit, quasi-legit and just flat out bootlegged Gun Club live albums, many of these outings are also fantastic. A new Gun Club box set, Preaching the Blues (Flood Gallery) examines six of the group’s best 7” 45rpm singles issued between 1981 and 1993 along with an extensive booklet, a bonus single from the Miami sessions, there’s even a “Fire of Love” fanzine and a Gun Club badge (for that authentic 80s touch?)

Preaching the Blues is released on January 21st. Preorder here.
 

1983 TV appearance with a blistering performance of “The Lie.”

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.05.2022
02:21 pm
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Lucretia Reflects: An interview with Patricia Morrison, the Gothmother of Punk
07.06.2016
11:23 am
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Patricia Morrison could very well be considered the gothmother—she’s certainly one of them—of punk. Growing up in Los Angeles, Morrison—at the tender age of fourteen—started playing bass in The Bags. She was in the best incarnation of Gun Club—along with Kid Congo Powers and the mercurial junkie bluesman Jeffrey Lee Pierce—and this was followed by a fabled stint in The Sisters of Mercy (that ended in court and a non-disclosure agreement between Morrison and Sisters frontman Andrew Eldritch). In 1994 she released a solo album Reflect on This and in 1996 Morrison joined The Damned, marrying the group’s lead singer, Dave Vanian the following year. Her iconic long black hair, dramatic makeup and frilly antique dresses set the precedent for the classic goth look—that is the elegant sophisticated, goth look, not the goofy Hot Topic mall goth look. She is like a dark unicorn that has been in the coolest bands. 

Morrison is now retired as a musician and lives in England with her husband and their daughter, Emily. The following interview was conducted via email

Dangerous Minds: How did you get your start playing music?

Patricia Morrison: I always loved music, was music mad in school with my friends and spent many an hour in my room pretending to be in a band. David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Queen, etc. Many of the LA punks who I became friends with later listened to the same bands in the 70’s. I also liked country music as my mother listened to it and I grew up with hearing it on the radio in the kitchen on a daily basis. When punk came along it opened up opportunities with like minded people deciding to give it a go and I was one of those people. I found two other girls (most boys wouldn’t consider playing with girls back then unless they were the singer or on keyboards), and we started playing with cheap drug store bought instruments. It was all so exciting between ‘being in a band’ and going to see concerts of old and new bands.
 

As “Pat Bag” in 1977 courtesy of Alice Bag Flickr archive

Dangerous Minds: Who was your earliest influence in music and fashion?

Patricia Morrison: Music: The Sixties, 1967-69 in particular. I still listen to and love music from that time. Fashion is harder as there were not that many people creating the style I became known for and in LA that was especially true. Back then it was all blue-eyed blonde beauty that was celebrated. My pale and pasty look was not yet appreciated! Film stars I suppose. I loved the glamor, and transferred it to punk as quite a few of us did.

Dangerous Minds: How did you develop your personal style?

Patricia Morrison: Thrift shops and just wearing what I liked. There was an amazing dress shop in Pasadena called Lila’s and a dress there was a massive 10 or 15 dollars but they were gorgeous. Dresses with unusual designs and fabrics from the 1930’s onwards. We also found warehouses in downtown LA that had old stock and it was a goldmine to us. I just wore what I liked. There were no rules or directives. I refused to cut my hair and some people had a go at me for that but I ignored them. Now punk has a defined look but then it was individual. People took cues from the NY and London punk scenes but LA had a strangeness they didn’t and that I loved.
 

The Bags play Portland in 1979

Dangerous Minds: Early on you played with the Bags and Legal Weapon. What was it like playing with other female musicians versus joining the all-male bands you played with after?

Patricia Morrison: Any females I have played with have been strong characters and in some ways more single-minded than the men. Also, back then you had to try harder if you were a girl. As I started playing with women first, it never seemed odd or different to me—it was down to the individual’s personality so not much difference looking back on it. Male and female, we all had the same problems, issues, camaraderie and egos.

Dangerous Minds: Who was your favorite band in the late 70s/early 80s to play shows with (as peers)?

Patricia Morrison: In the punk days there were so many! New bands popped up each week. The biggest band in the beginning was The Weirdos.The LA scene seemed to mix and match and sooner or later you played with everyone. LA had a friendly rivalry with San Francisco playing with bands up there as well. There were some great bands whose music still holds up today.

Much more after the jump…

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Posted by Izzi Krombholz
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07.06.2016
11:23 am
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‘Ghost on the Highway’: A Portrait of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the Gun Club


 
Ghost on the Highway: A Portrait of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the Gun Club, directors Andrew Powell and Kurt Voss’s 2006 documentary about the legendary Los Angeles-born punk blues singer has no footage of Gun Club actually playing music, in fact it has no actual Gun Club music in it whatsoever and precious little footage of its subject.

One can surmise that Pierce’s family decided not to participate with Powell and Voss’s movie bio and the filmmakers were left to put together this “feature-length” documentary with just talking head interviews with former Gun Club members Kid Congo Powers, Ward Dotson, Terry Graham, Jim Duckworth and Dee Pop along with Henry Rollins, Lemmy, John Doe and Pleasant Gehman. Because that’s all it is, basically. Under different circumstances, it would have no doubt been a better film.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I’ve watched this 75-minute old movie twice and if you are a fan of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the Gun Club, this modest film is a must. Obviously there is a lot of “myth” that’s grown around the person of Jeffrey Lee, who died at the age of 37 from a brain haemorrhage in 1996 and although this is more of an “oral history” than a documentary per se, it gets to the heart of the truth about the real Jeffrey Lee Pierce, who by turns is described as brilliant, tortured, loveable but mostly just as a complete and utter asshole and colossal, detestable fuckup junkie and drunk.

Although little of what the viewer learns about the life and times of Jeffrey Lee Pierce in Ghost on the Highway is particularly, er, complimentary, it didn’t really change my feelings about the man one iota. Anyone who knows anything about him knows where the story arc trends after the commercial break in this low budget Behind the Music, so it comes as zero surprise how many people thought the guy was a punk. Clearly he was an asshole, but he was also a great artist who made transcendent music. I only ever saw him from standing in the audience, so he gets a pass from me.
 

 
After the jump, a ‘Mother Juno’-era Gun Club set shot in Los Angeles in 1988…

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Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.06.2015
02:12 pm
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Come to the Death Party: The Gun Club live, 1984


 

“In the still of the night I walk with the Beast,
In the heat of the night I sleep with the Beast…”

On November 13, 1984, The Gun Club were shot live onstage in Madrid for the legendary Spanish television series La Edad de Oro. The set featured stellar performances of “Sex Beat,” “The Lie,” “Bad America,” “Death Party,” “Walking With the Beast,” a cover of CCR’s “Run Through the Jungle” and several other Gun Club classics. That entire show is embedded at the end of this post in a YouTube playlist.

I saw them play at The Electric Ballroom in London just three weeks before it was shot and I’ve always thought of this gig as one of the very best shows I’ve ever attended: It was actually my 19th birthday. There was only one person in the joint that night more fucked up than I was, and that honor would have to go to Mr. Jeffrey Lee Pierce hisself who managed to get completely shit-faced at the bar while the opening act, The Scientists, played their set. During the show JLP fell off the stage and landed on me. Neither of us felt any pain, I can assure you of that.

Watching this Madrid show today, it jibes pretty well with my memory of the London show. Jeffrey Lee is even wearing the same outfit. Holy shit were they amazing during this line-up. Who can deny that they were one of the greatest rock and roll outfits, ever? I mean, if you don’t like The Gun Club, you’re just… stupid.

In “The Blonde Ambition, Blind Drunk Visions & Beautiful Soul Of Jeffrey Lee Pierce,” British music journalist Kris Needs writes in tribute to the man he asked to be his son’s godfather (although I can’t much think of a worse choice for that role than JLP!)

There was something prime ally soul-grabbing about Jeffrey, their leader, singer, guitarist and songwriter. When you listened to Howlin’ Wolf, John Coltrane or Robert Johnson, you knew dark forces are at play. Jeffrey certainly did. He’d managed to plug into the dark main artery of the blues itself - riddled with demons but one of the ultimate examples of the kind of brilliant artist who could annoy people intensely with his over-the-top behaviour while also being one of the most endearing people you could wish to encounter. It’s so frustrating that he basically drank and drugged himself to death and, thanks to his erratic behaviour, managed to make a mess of everything from relationships [inter-band, record company and personal] to sometimes the music itself, although that was often the better for it.

Sometime in the mid-90s, at the Spaceland club in Silverlake—I think it was during the epic Destroy All Monsters reunion show there—I saw Pierce in the crowd. He was dressed neatly, sporting glasses, a waistcoat and a bolo tie and didn’t appear to be fucked up at all. He did however seem somehow very timid to me. I don’t really know how to explain it, but being such a huge fan of his, you know I kind of kept an eye on what he was up to. He didn’t say much to anyone, but he wore a look of apprehension on his face, like someone who wanted to kick his ass might be showing up, that kind of expression. In any case, considering how bloated the guy was by his mid 20s, and that Pierce was HIV positive, had cirrhosis of the liver and chronic hepatitis, he looked almost healthy. Nevertheless he was dead a few months later at the age of 37.

Aside from homegrown Spanish performers (including Pedro Almodóvar’s glam-rock parody group Almodóvar & McNamara) La Edad de Oro broadcast some incredible (sometimes complete) live concerts from Lou Reed, The Smiths, John Cale, Culture Club, Marc Almond, Violent Femmes, Grupo Sportivo, Psychedelic Furs, Nick Cave, Dream Syndicate, Aztec Camera, Paul Collins’ Beat, The Durutti Column, Tom Verlaine, Elliott Murphy, Alan Vega, Cabaret Voltaire, John Foxx, Echo & The Bunnymen, Killing Joke, Divine, Spear of Destiny, Johnny Thunders, Tuxedomoon (twice!), The Residents, China Crisis, Lords Of The New Church and Mari Wilson. The series was cancelled abruptly after a quite incredible 90-minute show with Psychic TV that was seen as an outrageous affront to the sensibilities of a Catholic country (and was).

Eventually many of these shows escaped from the vaults (in perfect digital quality, struck from the master tapes) and ended up on various torrent trackers as “The Stolen Files.” They are totally worth looking for!

Here’s the entire Gun Club set from La Edad de Oro in a YouTube playlist:
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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12.05.2014
07:30 pm
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