Fire Of Love & Shows # 896, 895 & 894

Originally released in 1981, Fire Of Love is the incendiary debut from The Gun Club.  Recorded over two sessions with Chris D. of L.A.’s The Flesh Eaters and Tito Larriva of The Plugz, Fire Of Love captures The Gun Club in their earliest, possessed, disturbing and raw form. Known as one of the first bands to bring together the blues and punk genres, they were one of the first blues punk bands. Fronted by the enigmatic Jeffrey Lee Pierce, bassist Rob Ritter and drummer Terry Graham, both of which played in L.A. punk band The Bags, The Gun Club’s lineup on this record was completed with Ward Dotson on guitar. The band had their beginnings following a Pere Ub concert in 1979 when Jeffrey Lee Pierce and fellow Chicano musician Brian Tristan decided to form a band. They morphed into Creeping Ritual. Lineup changes occurred often in The Gun Club, but their name origins came upon the suggestion from Keith Morris of The Circle Jerks. With a new name, Tristan exited the group shortly after and became Kid Congo Powers playing guitar in The Cramps (although he would later rejoin The Gun Club).  

Lyrically, Pierce dug deep into the American psyche that was exposed in the Delta Blues. Also, mixing elements of country, roots rock, folk and of course the energy of punk, Pierce howled taking on Southern Gothic characters and tales in the form of song like a man possessed by a haunted voodoo-like intensity. The band revitalized elements of the blues with punk creating something that was not heard before. “Sex Beat” begins with sizzling guitar riffs, slides, pounding drumbeats and mysterious basslines that provide the opening musical moments of Fire Of Love. Pierce sings of desire, the balance between that and a real connection with an intense bravado. On “Preaching The Blues,” The Gun Club’s take on the Delta Blues Robert Johnson classic, you can really hear the sound of the band playing in the moment exploding in bursts of punk and country as it slows down and picks up pace throughout. 

Other tracks such as “Promise Me,” adds elements of The Velvet Underground with its unsettling violin played by Larriva that creates tension with the more laidback blues/country grooves, “She’s Like Heroin To Me” is a bonafide blues punk track. One of the tracks that clearly sets The Gun Club apart from others in the genre, lyrics such as “She is like an eye-blue swimming pool/But she will never know that she is there/We sit together, drunk like our fathers used to be,” Pierce and The Gun Club deliver a addictive concoction pulling in themes of love, desire and existentialism. “For The Love Of Ivy” is surrounded by the tension as Pierce throws himself into the Southern Gothic characters that populate this song, sometimes taking them on too literally, that is an on the edge murder ballad. The song was co-written by Kid Congo Powers is also a part love letter to guitarist Poison Ivy of The Cramps. On this track, which commands your attention, you can also hear guitar parts that are uniquely Kid Congo-like (although they were played by Dotson on the album). “Fire Spirit” leaps forward with poetic lyrics and ramshackle lustre, “Ghost On The Highway” is a dark, terrifying track that is a rave up country punk track, “Cool Drink Of Water” is a hazy, swampy bass and drum track, as Jeffrey Lee Pierce sings with tormented swagger in this reworking of the Tommy Johnson traditional.  

Although an acquired taste by some, Fire Of Love set the path for future avenues in music. Joining the post punk world, the sounds experimented with here influenced artists such as Jack White, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Nick Cave, The Pixies and many other musicians. It helped invigorate the L.A. music scene and inspired others to start bands. Chris D. stated in 2014: “When you hear Jeffrey Lee singing, screaming, shouting, yodelling and generally warbling through this set of Southern Gothic blue/folk/punk rock anthems, you don’t hear Jeffrey alone – you hear a whole cast of characters venting their bursting spleen; You name it, Jeffrey assumed the mantle. A junior punk Brando hewing close to his tradition of country blues and garage band idols. In fact ascending to the timeless pantheon to rest alongside them.” 

Show 896 (Originally Aired On August 21st, 2021)(The Gun Club Fire Of Love, The Beach Boys Surf's Up, Can Tago Mago):

1.  The Gun Club - Sex Beat
2.  The Gun Club - Preaching The Blues
3.  Japandroids - For The Love of Ivy
4.  Jeremy Gluck - Gone Free
5.  The Gun Club - Goodbye Johnny (4-Track Demo)
6.  The Gun Club - Fire of Love (Alternate Version)
7.  The Gun Club - She's Like Heroin To Me
8.  Matt Ellis - Walk Alone
9.  CLAMM - Keystone Pols
10. Dog Day - Hell On Earth
11. The Smugglers - The B 'N' L
12. METZ - No Ceiling (Live)
13. Psychic Void - Terminal Vacation
14. The Beach Boys - Lookin' At Tomorrow
15. The Beach Boys - Till I Die
16. The Beach Boys - Seasons In The Sun
17. Chad VanGaalen - Where's It All Going?
18. The Unicorns - I Was Born (A Unicorn)
19. The Jesus And Mary Chain - Mushrooms
20. Can - Paperhouse
21. Can - Bring Me Coffee Or Tea
22. Buena Vista Social Club - Chan Chan
23. Ry Cooder - Dark Is The Night
24. Kid Congo Powers & The Pink Monkey Birds - He Walked In

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the August 21 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 895 (Originally Aired On August 14th, 2021)(The Who Who's Next, The Strokes Is This It, Dog Day Deformer):

1.  Ty Segall - Night of the Vampire
2.  The Black - Angels Don't Fall Down
3.  Jeff Tweedy - For You (I'd Do Anything)
4.  Nap Eyes - When I Come Around
5.  Sam Coffey - Hard Livin'
6.  Guided By Voices - Baba O'Reily
7.  The Dipsomaniacs - Bargain
8.  Pat DiNizio - Behind Blue Eyes
9.  Juliana Hatfield - My Wife
10. Pussy Riot - Won't Be Fooled Again
11. Pete Townshend - Getting In Tune
12. Pete Townshend - Love Ain't For Keeping
13. Pete Townshend - Goin' Mobile
14. Pete Townshend - The Song Is Over
15. The Strokes - Is This It
16. The Strokes - Alone, Together
17. The Strokes - New York City Cops
18. Dog Day - Daydream
19. Dog Day - Eurozone
20. Dog Day - Nothing To Du
21. Ashley Shadow - For Love
22. Packs - Holy Water
23. Cub - Your Bed
24. Cub - Chicho (Brave New Waves Session)
25. Fleece - On My Mind
26. David Chesworth & Bill McDonald - Delay
27. Tee-Vee Repairman - Patterns
28. Special Delivery - Not Three Bad
29. Dion Lunadon - Negative Energy

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the August 14 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 894 (Originally Aired On August 7th, 2021)(The Quiet Jungle, Jon Mckiel, Mudhoney, Ducks LTD, Kim Gray):

1.  The Quiet Jungle - Too Much In Love
2.  The Haunted - Mona
3.  Autogramm - Jody Is A Cop
4.  Peach Kelli Pop - Cherry (That's Not Her Real Name)
5.  CIVIC TV - Black Moon
6.  The Sunshiny Daze - The Night Knows (What The Day Don't)
7.  Rick White - Whatever It Is
8.  Magic Roundabout - She's A Waterfall
9.  King Khan & BBQ Show - What's Yours Is Mine
10. Jon Mckiel - Private Eye
11. Jon Mckiel - Management
12. Jon Mckiel - Brothers
13. Jon Mckiel - Turf War
14. Jon Mckiel - Chop Through
15. Liz Phair - Soap Star Joe
16. R.E.M. - So Fast, So Numb
17. R.E.M. - Texarkana
18. Modest Mouse - Heart Cooks Brain
19. Modest Mouse - What People Are Made Of
20. Mudhoney - Generation Genocide
21. Mudhoney - Into The Drink
22. Mudhoney - Let It Slide
23. Holly Golightly - Good Enough
24. Ash - Who You Drivin' Now
25. Motorists - Through To You
26. Body Breaks - Between The Heart and Mind
27. Memes - Funny Man
28. Ducks LTD - 18 Cigarettes
29. Kim Gray - Holiday

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the August 7 file to download/stream the episode.

Fire of Love ... The Gun Club & Show # 368

The Gun Club were a very unique band that blended elements of Roots Rock, Blues, Country, Rockabilly and Punk for a style completely their own. Starting out in 1980 in LA, the band was formed by singer/guitarist Jeffery Lee Pierce, Brian Tristan on Lead Guitar, Don Snowden on bass and Brad Dunning on drums. The band initially started out as The Cyclones with Pleasant Gehman on vocals and played Rockabilly, but the singer left after one show and the group continued on as The Creeping Ritual. It was around this time during the bands early beginnings where Don Snowden and Brad Dunning left the group, they would be replaced by Rob Ritter (bass) and Terry Graham (drums) from the band The Bags. After growing tired of their band name they changed it to The Gun Club upon suggestion from Keith Morris of Black Flag/Circle Jerks. The bands first album came out in 1981 and it was titled Fire of Love, but before it came out there yet another line up change. Brian Tristan would leave the group to join The Cramps where he would remain for three years and gain the new name Kid Congo Powers. Following his time with The Cramps he rejoined The Gun Club, but when his first departed Ward Dotson replaced him on guitar.

When the band headed into the studio to record Fire of Love, what was captured on tape was a stripped down primal, original classic album that redefined a genre of Punk. Fire of Love was recorded with Chris D of The Flesh Eaters and Tito Larriva who applied a stripped down, live sounding production style to the songs that made up Fire of Love. The album mixed a haunting voodoo like intensity of American Roots, Blues and Country with Punk Rock for something completely original. The Gun Club is captured in top from the upbeat opener “Sex Beat” to the album closer “Goodbye Johnny”. The album features reworked versions of “Preaching the Blues” a song originally by Robert Johnson, that at howls and roars with the haunting vocals and the energetic guitar bursts of Dotson, while “Cool Drink of Water” is a soulful reworking of a Delta Blues song originally by Tommy Johnson. The album is also fuelled by the addictive Punk-Blues classic “She’s Like Heroin To Me”, the terrifying “Ghost On The Highway”, and “For The Love of Ivy” a song co-written with original Gun Club guitarist Kid Congo Powers. All of the eleven tracks on this album contribute to its atmosphere, whether you refer to "Sex Beat" or the steam engine driving drums and vocals of "Black Train". 

Fire of Love was the debut album of a band that helped rejuvenate the LA Rock music scene and an album that stands on its own as an underground classic. The music has been called a number of things such as Punk Rock Blues, Tribal Psychobilly Blues and many other things falling into a number of subgenres. The album has also been said to have been fuelled not only by the sum of its parts, but by the soulful tormented voice of its wild man lead singer Jeffery Lee Pierce which cannot be avoided. The band would continue to make albums until the mid 90s, until lead singer Jeffery Lee Pierce passed away at the age of 37 in 1996. The album and bands spirit live on and Fire of Love continues to burn with a gritty intensity that was first ignited when it was originally released in 1981. 

This Weeks Play List:

1. Jacuzzi Boys - Cool Vapors
2. The Hentchmen - Some Other Guy
3. Supergrass - What Went Wrong (In Your Head)
4. Richard Hawley - Tonight The Streets Are Ours
5. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - I'm Your Man
6. Iceage - Collapse
7. Rotten Tropics - The Commissioner of Sewers
8. Anagram - Those Were The Days
9. The Government - Following You
10. The Ted Clark Five - No Respect To Lose
11. Johnny Cash - Big River
12. Lonesome Lefty - Texas Blues
13. Locusts Have No King - Anna's Smoke
14. Box Car Guitars - My Love Is Blue
15. Free Boat Rentals - Fourth Thrice
16. Indian Wars - 20,000 Cans
17. Iggy Pop & James Williamson - Lucky Monkeys 
18. Sex Pistols - Did You No Wrong 
19. Radio Birdman - What Gives?
20. Lip Service - Jimmy Brown
21. The True Lovers - Masters Apprentice
22. The Gun Club - Sex Beat 
23. The Gun Club - For The Love of Ivy
24. The Gun Club - Fire Spirit

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for September 6. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.