This record is a mix of rock, blues, rockabilly, punk, garage. It's a raw trip through the, uh, unusual mind of Jeffrey Lee Pierce. His lyrics, when you can pick them out, are way out there, no doubt inspired by his love of booze and heroin. You have to play this one loud to give it the proper reverence. Among my faves from Fire of Love are "For the Love of Ivy," "She's Like Heroin to Me," and "Ghost on the Highway."

The Gun Club played outside at Baity's in Winston-Salem; I think it was 1983. The Othermothers, from Greensboro, opened up. I think that was the only time I saw the Othermothers play live and I did not know them then. (Bassist Al Cowett ended up being best man at my courthouse wedding years later.) The Othermothers blew the Gun Club away. I don't know what the deal was with Jeffrey Lee Pierce that night. He just seemed very unhappy to be there and annoyed with the audience. It's likely there were some rednecks around since Baity's was one of their regular hangouts. Perhaps the rednecks were heckling the band. Or perhaps the band was just in a bad mood. The Gun Club played a sloppy set for about 45 minutes then disappeared. We finally realized they had bolted.

I heard somewhere along the way that Pierce died in the mid-1990s of a brain aneurism or clot or hemorrhage or something like that. That news did not come as a surprise.

-- May 1, 2005 (DD)