The Gun Club
Fire of Love
(Porterhouse Reissue)
If you’re serious about your music you know that listening to it can be one of two things: pleasure or homework. There are those times when you listen to music purely for pleasure: a new band you’ve heard of, or an old record you want to revisit. Other times, listening to music takes the form of homework: there are these gaps in your knowledge that need filling, or a reference you need to add to your library. If you’re a punk fan, the lineage will eventually lead you to the Gun Club and what’s probably their go-to album Fire of Love.
Sure, you can go into the interesting history of the band: Kid Congo Powers played in the first incarnation of Gun Club and would then move onto the Cramps and have a great solo career of his own; Keith Morris of Circle Jerks named this band, lead vocalist Jeffrey Lee Pierce was a troubled soul who was well known in the music circles of the day including Blondie and Nick Cave. The Gun Club seems to have been prevalent and proved to be an octopus of sorts, extending far beyond the band itself and well into the future.
But what about the music?
With the Gun Club, you’re getting pure rockabilly punk rock. Like the Cramps or X, the Gun Club are as early psychobilly as you can get, mixing elements of blues, Americana, and rock n roll into punk rock. They might even be the first. And as much as this sound has been persistent over the years, Fire of Love still sounds fresh, important and relevant. Try not to bob your head or tap your toes to Sex Beat or For the Love of Ivy or Fire Spirit. You can’t do it. I’m revisiting the record now for the first time in years and am more impressed with it now than ever.
Again, Porterhouse is the perfect home for this record, having remastered it from the original analog tapes, pressed it on 180g vinyl and creating a document that no record collector can be without. Like we said, listening to music can be fun or be homework. This time it’s both.
Get it here.
