The Gun Club Mother Juno

When it was first released in 1987, Mother Juno was the first new studio material under the Gun Club band name since the release of the Las Vegas Story in 1984. During the 3 year interval Jeffrey Lee Pierce had worked solo under the name the Jeffrey Lee Pierce Quartet. The later and main live lineup of that band provided the new rhythm section. These were JLP’s girlfriend Romi Mori who had been playing guitar in that band and Nick Sanderson who had previously played for Clock Dva.
Sadly that version of the JLP Quartet is little documented, releasing only 3 tracks which made up the first side of the Flamingoes mini lp. One track recorded by them, a heavily reworked version of Flipper’s Get Away now adorns the companion release to this cd, Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s first solo lp Wildweed. Apparently Romi has a cache of live material in her personal archive which she is willing to release.
I think what caused the band on this recording to change its name from the JLP Quartet is the presence of long term Pierce friend and original Gun Club member Kid Congo Powers. This was to be Kid’s 3rd stint in the band after returning to save a sinking ship for the Australian tour preceding Las Vegas Story, he had left the original line-up to join the Cramps for Psychedelic Jungle. The (post) Las Vegas Story band eventually dissolved after a pair of Xmas shows at London’s Dingwalls in 1984, (during which JLP had been introduced to Romi by Kim Salmon leader of the support act the Scientists.) In the interim between then and 1987 Kid had been in the short lived band Fur Bible before moving to Berlin and becoming a Bad Seed. But once again he answered Jeffrey Lee’s call to rejoin the group that had been formed for him to missing with (didn’t wind up going on quite that way, but that’s history for you).
Kid’s new adopted home Berlin was to be the location of the recording for the album, in the shape of Hansaton studios. Better known by some as Hansa, at one time a Nazi ballroom but brought to fame by it being the studio David Bowie had recorded his Berlin trilogy in (echoes of the sound on those can be heard in a later Gun Club recording called Richard Speck which will hopefully be included in the next round of Gun Club releases on this label). More recently the studio had been used by both Nick Cave (Mutiny e.p. etc) and Einsturzende Neubauten. Neubauten frontman and then Bad Seed lead guitarist Blixa Bargeld adds some pretty atmospheric slide guitar to this lp’s track Yellow Eyes (apparently a love song of sorts to Romi).

Jeffrey Lee Pierce had been a long term fan of the Glasgow band the Cocteau Twins. I think the feeling was mutual, which explains the presence of that band’s Robin Guthrie here as producer. Strangely, considering the ethereality usually connected to that band this lp is probably the closest this band comes to hard swamp rock. Listening to this lp on headphones certainly casts a weird shadow on that idea since this band has gone for a pretty minimal approach when compared to more archetypal bands of that genre. I think the use of Guthrie enhances the originality of the record and am left wondering what Peter Hook who I think was once considered as a potential producer for this would’ve made it sound like. One thing noticeable here reminiscent of the Cocteaus is the sudden shimmer of various instruments in the mix.

I went through a period of not returning to this record much, finding it too ‘rock’but now find that it may be the most representative lp by the band. That is to say that if anybody unfamiliar with the band were to ask what do the Gun Club sound like?
One could stick on this record and give a pretty good picture of everything bar the first lp Fire of Love which is a lot more punk and the last lp Lucky Jim which veers between mid 60s mod grooves and the Robert Cray in places.

Bonus tracks on this cd came from the version of Breaking Hands > Crabdance has an alternative version that was on the 2/13/61 version of the next lp Pastoral Hide and Seek. Nobody’s City is a compelling groove speaking of a soul influence nowhere near as obvious elsewhere.
I don’t know what Long Gone John’s future release plans are once he finishes the lp reissues. There are a few live shows in the vaults at VPRO the Dutch Radio Station which has already been the source for both Kalinda Danse Boom and Ahmed’s Wild Dream/Live in Europe. Romi apparently has an archive of material she is willing to release. There was also a great ’87 live set from Kentish Town’s Town & Country Club which was circulated on the Wildweed yahoo chatlist a couple of years back.

There are a few imminent releases in the works in other media. Gene Temesy the fan club president and Terry Graham the drummer both have books due out. There is also a documentary focusing on JLP’s biography in the works by a filmmaker called Kurt Voss

Stevo