GAOTW: The Gun Club

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The Gun Club were a rock band from Los Angeles in the 1980s led by flamboyant singer/guitarist, ex-rock critic Jeffrey Lee Pierce.

History

The band was formed by Pierce and Kid Congo Powers and initially called Creeping Ritual. They went through several lineup changes before settling on "The Gun Club", a name suggested by Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris.

Kid Congo left before the first album to join The Cramps. Other notable members include bassist Rob Ritter and drummer Terry Graham, who had both previously been in The Bags. Rob left after the debut album to form 45 Grave, and changed his name to Rob Graves. Later, Patricia Morrison, then known as Pat Bag, one of the founders of The Bags, joined to play bass on two LPs Danse Kalinda Boom and Las Vegas Story before leaving to join The Sisters of Mercy and then The Damned.

Their first album, 1981's Fire of Love, is regarded as a classic by many rock critics. One critic has written that the "album's lyrical imagery is plundered from voodoo, '50's EC comics and the blues," 1 while another notes that "Nobody has heard music like this before or since."[1] Fire of Love sold well and arguably received the best reviews of any release from the band.

Along with The Cramps, X and other bands, they set much of the tone for the Hollywood rock scene in the 1980s. (Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe is rumored to have borrowed some of Pierce's distinctive look for his own early career.)

In 1992, Pierce returned to his musical roots by recording an album of mostly pre-war blues songs with his long time collaborator, the British blues Guitarist Cypress Grove.

Pierce continued leading various incarnations of the Gun Club up until his death in 1996.

Romi Mori and Nick Sanderson went on to found the band Freeheat, with ex-members of Jesus and Mary Chain Jim Reid and Ben Lurie.

They helped influence the cowpunk scene that developed in their wake and a wide variety of bands ranging from Social Distortion in the 1980s to The White Stripes today.

Discography

Fire of Love (1981)
Miami (1982)
Death Party EP (1983)
Sex Beat '81 (Live) (1984)
The Birth, The Death, The Ghost (Live) (1984)
The Las Vegas Story (1984)
Danse Kalinda Boom (Live) (1985)
Mother Juno (1987)
Pastoral Hide and Seek (1990)
Divinity EP (1991)
In Exile (1992) Compilation
Live In Europe (1993)
Lucky Jim (1993)
Early Warning (1997) Rarities and demos