Gun Club
 

As far as I can tell there is no thread on this band. I'm not even sure if there's been any discussion about this band, since that stupid search tool doesn't let you look for words under four letters... FIX THAT! In any case... what kind of band are Gun Club? Punk rock, that's for sure. But bluesy, in a twisted dying New Orleaner on speed kind of way. These aren't the kind of blues that grab you and drag you back into the primordial swamp, they're the kind of blues that result from one too many drinks of Jack Daniels, there's a drunken recklessness and passion here.

Here's a jpeg to keep you all placated. Go find some music.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...1.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Like Calling Up Thunder!

The Gun Club are fantastic. Miami and Fire of Love is all I've heard, and I don't particularly care enough to hear their other stuff (i don't imagine it's as good), but those two albums are fantastic, interesting and fun. I love their sleaziness.

love gun club. fire of love is generally one of my favourite albums ever, but i only have pieces from their other releases.

Great great band. That first album is classic and would be one of my Desert Island Discs.

bump

getting into this band more and more. Jeffrey Lee Pierce has a penchant for writing some of the most abstract blues songs and there's just something more i catch every time i listen to them. favorites so far: Fire of Love, Miami, Mother Juno. i have yet to check JLP's Wildweed but it's next on my list.

Glad you bumped this, i got hold of Miami a few months back, possibly prefer it to Fire Of Love. Superb band.

the JLP album that Urban mentioned earlier is REALLY good:

http://www.whatssofunnyabout.de/shop...linCypress.jpg

Wildweed is a fantastic album JLP did in the mid 80s. Prepare to be blown away. The last 4 or so tracks on the album are very experimental and theres one called 'The Fertility Goddess' where its all spoken word...
Yeah this is mostly a blues cover album he did with this other guy. A couple of the tracks he wrote though- 'Stranger In My Heart', 'Go Tell The Mountain'.

I discovered the Gun Club on amazon by mistake about 3 or 4 years ago and saw the fire of love album and thought it looked pretty cool so just done a blind purchase and the first time I heard it I was blown away. Ive noticed on here that the only two Gun Club albums mentioned are Fire Of Love & Miami which were essentially loud punk albums. No denying, these two albums are excellent but prepare to be blown away as I wasnt when I purchased their later 80s stuff.'The Las Vegas Story' & 'Mother Juno' which I rank higher than the previous mentioned two.
They also have an album called 'Lucky Jim' (1993) which was their last ever and is very rare and cost me about £15 but turned out to be their best album (IMO). The thing about The Gun Club is that they really got better towards the latter part of their career when JLP matured as an artist and it really shows. I would recommend getting Las Vegas Story (1984) first as that is when they really started to get truly great (IMO).
I hardly listen to the Fire Of Love or Miami albums now as I much prefer their later stuff.
Oh also I forgot there is another album they did in 1990 called 'Pastoral Hide & Seek' which is also like 'Lucky Jim' very rare and costs a bomb to get the album. Ive only listened to it a couple of times but it is a good album and when the 'Humanesque' song starts it actually sounds like an American indie rock band in my opinion. The album has the feel that theyve kind of almost left the Punk feel behind them which is more or less later confirmed in 'Lucky Jim' apart from a few tracks.
Anyway if any of you hear/have heard the Lucky Jim album or any of the others I mentioned then let us know as I have still to come across someone who actually knows who the gun club are and appreciates their music as much as I do.

i completely disagree with this. i think the Gun Club were the most interesting in the beginning, it's when JLP wasn't struggling to find his voice. there's less confusion, less misdirection, and more solid vocal and instrumental attack. not to mention he produced some of the greatest songs ever at the time (John Hardy and For the Love of Ivy are completely awesome in every way). i've listened to their later stuff and while i didn't think it was crap i certainly didn't like it nearly as much as Miami or Fire of Love.

i dunno, maybe it's just where i am with music nowadays. i get so bored listening to pop music anymore.

I feel as though they had matured as artists and was a lot more integrity to their playing compared to the wild early stuff. Dont get me wrong Miami in particular(Run Through The Jungle) is a great album & Fire of Love was the one that got me into them.
But if you think the Gun Club's later stuff is 'Pop' then you need a hearing aid. :crazy:

I don't recall him saying that his later stuff was pop (sorry to but in like this)

i think the side B of Fire of Love is where it properly kicks off... from 'Fire Spirit' onwards. All my favourite songs are on that side :p:

I've listened to Miami so much over the last couple of years so as to come to a decision as to what I think of it but it just never sinks in. 'Mother of Earth' is good though. Might get Las Vegas Story.

Fire of Love stands out for it's production really, they scuppered that ghostly desert-moon vibe they had going afterwards, there was loads of echo and it probably wasn't done very professionally but it suited them.

i think Miami just wavers slightly from the straight punk that was present throughout Fire of Love. FOL is an awesome album but a few of the songs sound a little repetitive. and while Miami doesn't have the same attack it's definitely more varied in structure and there are plenty of other styles thrown in there. JLP's rearrangement of John Hardy is enormous. and then there's insane stuff like Watermelon Man, Like Calling Up Thunder, and Mother of Earth. just an all-around banging album from start to finish.

cripes. i'm gonna go throw it on now.

yeah you're right it's a better album, lol. I'm listening to it now, it all came flooding back pretty quickly. You forget the atmospheric production and hit/miss songs of Fire pretty quickly when you hear this. It's mixed much better as well... or maybe I just had a dodgy rip of Fire, ha

If you read the post I replied to he said 'I just get bored listening to pop nowadays' which was to me, implying that their later stuff was 'Pop' which i had to quickly correct.

EDIT: Calling all Gun Clubs fans- Ive done an album poll. http://www.musicbanter.com/punk/4113...tml#post672694 (Lets not be original and do 'Fire Of Love' or 'Miami' now)

There's something achingly beautiful about the Gun Club's songs... She's Like Heroin, Ghost On The Highway, Fire Of Love (yes I know it's a cover) Run Through The Jungle, Mother Of Earth, Secret Fires, House On Highland Ave...

Hey, "Secret Fries" would be an awesome song too, haha.

I've been loving them recently. Great stuff.