Title:        Gun Club leader Pierce dies after surgery
OBITUARY:     One of L.A.'s unsung musical heroes seemed to be on his way back
Author:       Jim Sullivan (The Boston Globe)
Source:       Orange County Register
Date:         April 10, 1996


Jeffrey Lee Pierce, leader of the band the Gun Club, died Sunday after
surgery to treat a blood clot in his brain. He was 38.

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 Better
Than Ezra kicked up the Gun Club's "For the Love of Ivy" _ an homage to
his friend, the Cramps' Poison Ivy _ when it 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 lineups. Concerts became erratic _ some explosive, others tedious.

"For the last several years, Jeffrey didn't seem to be himself," said his
friend Fred Patterson in a missive sent out on the Internet. Patterson
said Pierce suffered the effects of drug abuse and of a virus he contracted
during a visit to Southeast Asia.

Patterson, who played on the Gun Club's album "Las Vegas Story," said he
last talked to Pierce in February. At that point, Patterson said, Pierce
_ who had moved back to Los Angeles _ was in much better shape and planned
to put together another version of the Gun Club.



© Freedom Communications, Inc. April 10, 1996


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