NEWS + NOTES
THE RELEASE OF 1984’s The Las Vegas Story saw the Gun Club step away from the ramshackle DIY ethic of their first two albums. The album saw the return to the lineup of guitarist Kid Congo Powers after three years spent touring and recording with the Cramps. The raw fervor of Fire of Love (1981) and Miami (1982) remained undimmed, but singer Jeffrey Lee Pierce, who formed the band with Powers in 1979, had decided to start playing guitar again for their third album. The songs benefited from the extra textures and layers that the twin-ax attack afforded, with Powers and Pierce winding in and around each other’s guitar parts.
is the only album recorded by what many consider to be the band’s classic lineup, with Patricia Morrison on bass and Terry Graham on drums. The Gun Club split up a year after its release, with Pierce going, a swirling melange of voodoo jazz, soundscape instrumentals and psychotic lounge music that will instantly resonate with fans of any of Powers’ previous bands.
