With a howling and unholy mix of punk rock and the blues, Jeffrey Lee Pierce and The Gun Club exploded upon the L.A. club scene in the early '80s. When it came time to record a follow-up to their acclaimed debut Fire Of Love, the group decamped to New York to work with producer Chris Stein of Blondie and his new label, Animal. Stein produced Miami at Blank Tape Studios in June 1982, with Deborah Harry on hand to sing backup vocals, credited under the pseudonym D.H. Laurence Jr. Despite the involvement of two members of Blondie, Miami was no pop- punk concoction, but rather a further exploration of the neo-swamp blues Pierce and company had mined on Fire of Love, though Stein's production made Pierce's toxic musical stew a little easier to swallow.

Miami didn't get its proper due back in the day, but was hugely impactful. Billy Idol said the closing track "Mother Earth" was a key influence on his 1982 hit "White Wedding." While The Gun Club went on to inspire such artists as Chris Isaak, The White Stripes and Mark Lanegan , the band also highlighted their own influences on Miami . The album includes a howling take on Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Run Through Jungle," a revved up version of the traditional folk song "John Hardy," and a Crampslike rendition of J.R. Reynolds' "Fire of Love". Along with Debbie Harry's backing vocals, Miami features a constellation of notable guest artists, including Andy Warhol protege Walter Steding on fiddle, Rubber Rodeo's Mark Tomeo on steel guitar, and Chris Stein himself joining in on bongos.

The Gun Club recorded a few albums after Miami, but this one with the original band is considered their masterpiece!

TRACK LISTING

Carry Home
Like Calling Up Thunder
Brother And Sister
Run Through The Jungle
Devil In The Woods
Texas Serenade
Watermelon Man
Bad Indian
John Hardy
Fire Of Love
Sleeping In Blood City
Mother Of Earth

On DECEMBER 1st, BLIXA SOUNDS will release a Remastered Edition of Mother Juno, the classic 1987 album by punk blues legends The Gun Club

This timeless album has been digitally re- mastered and comes in replicate packaging to the original release. Long out-of-print, this album has been on the collector's market since not long after first being released.

This classic line- up only stayed together for this one album, featuring drummer Nick Sanderson (The Jesus and Mary Chain), as well as guitar from Kid Congo Powers (The Cramps, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), bassist Romi Mori, and Blixa Bargeld (Einsturzende Neubauten, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds) providing lead guitar on the haunting "Yellow Eyes."

The album was recorded under the guidance of producer Robin Guthrie, guitarist and co-founder of Cocteau Twins. Mother Juno is widely considered by many to be the swan song of the Gun Club discography.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bill Bailey
2. Thunderhead
3. Lupita Screams
4. Yellow Eyes
5. The Breaking
6. Hands
7. Araby
8. Hearts
9. My Cousin Kim
10. Port Of Souls

Yes! It exists! Here are the unreleased recordings of what would have been the very last album of The Gun Club. Recorded in the very last period of the band, between 1991 and 1993, the studio recordings that Jeffrey Lee Pierce did with The Gun Club, with maximum quality and excellence of sound and presentation. What Jeffrey Lee Pierce exposes here is highest vocal and guitar performing, from sounds which remind us to Jimi Hendrix and Television, to truly intimate heartbreaking blues, going through soul and rock. Includes covers from The Who, Wilson Picket and more.

Reissue of the legendary and unbeatable first Gun Club LP, originally released on Ruby Records in 1981.

Jeffrey Lee Pierce - reggae enthusiast, heroin addict, and former president of the Blondie fan club - suffered a lonely, depressing death on March 31st, 1996 of a brain hemorrhage, after untold years of drug use and alcoholism. Why this event mattered much to anyone lay in a fantastic record by his band. The Gun Club recorded 16 years earlier, the masterful "Fire Of Love". A visionary and fierce moment in time when The Gun Club took the raw, dripping meat of shopworn delta blues and infused it with the energy and fire of the LA punk rock scene.

Inspired by bands like X, Television, the Cramps, he met Kid Congo Powers (who will later play with Nick Cave and Cramps) and they formed the Creeping Ritual in 1979, soon to be renamed The Gun Club. Pierce was already a notorious drunk, exhibitionist, poet and fanboy. The Gun Club were quickly a dangerous new spoke on the spinning wheel of dynamic LA alt-culture. By 1980, Jeffrey Lee had moved into a deep reverence for Mississippi delta blues. The Gun Club paid more than passing homage: they wholeheartedly swiped complete riffs, words and attitude from the masters. Pierce participated in the great blues singer tradition by cobbling together distinct lines from other people's songs to create new ones. Snatches of Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Robert Johnson can be heard throughout this debut LP –released in 1981 on Slash’s Ruby Records.

What makes "Fire Of Love" such a brilliant listen long after its time is that this blatant homage to the blues was amplified, energized and kicked into overdrive - in a new style that combined the ghostliness of the original model with a FAST, unwound and supremely energetic beat. The engineering feats of Pat Burnette contributed to that sound: he wielded his Quad-Teck studios like a weapon, and mastered some of the greatest sides in LA music history (such as Germs’ “GI”). Pure fullness of sound and the raw hot throb of records that were made to stand the test of time.

From the immensely dark and aggressive sexuality of "Sex Beat", Gun Club's most recognizable number, to the fetishistic salute to fellow traveler Poison Ivy of The Cramps in “For The Love Of Ivy”, including the hellfire classic “She’s Like Heroin To Me”, a 2:33 masterpiece in which everything comes together; “Fire Of Love” is pure perfection. They would never reach this level again. No one would, either. "Fire of Love " stands among the greatest classics of Rock history, and shows the genius of the great Jeffrey, whose haunted singing has never been replaced. It proved out to be one of
the most influential records of the 80’s, with countless musicians declaring their love for the Club. Can’t be recomended enough, this album is a real classic that has been criminally underrated. The beginning of a legend. Let's give the devil his due for this one, and ask him to take real good care of Jeffrey.