Title: After erratic career, Gun Club's Pierce dies Author: Jim Sullivan Source: Boston Globe Date: April 5, 1996 APPRECIATION Jeffrey Lee Pierce, leader of the band the Gun Club, died Sunday after surgery to treat a blood clot in his brain. He was 37. Pierce and the Gun Club had been inactive for some time, but there were moments during the early and mid-1980s when the Los Angeles-based group could be one of the hottest bands imaginable. Especially memorable was their Boston debut late in 1981 at the long- defunct club Streets. Touring in support of their first (and best) album, they induced a wild night of slam-dancing and sweaty emotion, with Pierce's lead vocals leading the way with his bluesy wail. The Gun Club's aim was to do for the blues and R & B what the Cramps had done for rockabilly -- to seize it, warp it, modernize it. There was no parody involved, but neither was there reverence. Boston rock fans got a taste of Pierce's songwriting power when the band Better Than Ezra kicked up the Gun Club's "For the Love of Ivy" -- an homage to his friend, the Cramps' Poison Ivy -- when they played the free WBCN show at the Hatch Shell last year. Pierce battled weight and substance-abuse problems for years. He had a reputation for being difficult to work with, and the Gun Club went through a series of different members. Concerts became erratic -- some explosive, others tedious. "For the last several years, Jeffrey didn't seem to be himself," said his friend Fred Patterson. Patterson said Pierce suffered the effects of substance abuse and of a virus contracted in Southeast Asia. Patterson, who played on the Gun Club's "Las Vegas Story" album, said he last talked to Pierce in February. At that point, Patterson said, Pierce was in much better shape and planned to put together another version of the Gun Club. A traditional Japanese service will be held for Pierce, who was a Buddhist, next week in LA. © Boston Globe Newspaper, April 5, 1996 JUST CLICK "BACK" TO RETURN TO THE LIST OF ARTICLES