Former Bad Seed Mick Harvey has spoken of his memories of the late Gun Club leader Jeffrey Lee Pierce as well as revealing that new material of his own may be forthcoming before the end of the year. Harvey has contributed a version of Pierce’s ‘St Mark’s Place’ for the the second album in the Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project series, The Journey Is Long.
The tribute album features new versions of existing Gun Club songs as well versions of demos that were never formally recorded. Contributors include Barry Adamson, Nick Cave and Deborah Harry, Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell and The Jim Jones Revue.
Jeffrey Lee Pierce died in 1996 died from a brain hemorrhage after years of drug and alcohol abuse.
"He was sat on the couch during much of the recording of Let Love In," says Harvey. "He’d come almost every day and just sit on the couch and then he’d come out to dinner with us and just mumble away. He was very hard work. He was very unusual and a very unique guy."
He continues, "I love a lot of his songs but he was pretty hard to connect with at first. I suppose he was pretty out of it with drink and drugs and so kind of difficult to communicate with. Most of the time it was difficult to work out what he was talking about. But he was always very nice and very gentlemanly."
Pierce appeared with Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds at the Shepherds Bush Empire on the Let Love In tour in 1994 to sing on ‘Wanted Man’.
Speaking of his own material, Harvey confirmed that he’s already looking to the future and trying to decide how best to present the new songs.
"I’ve got a whole bunch of recordings that I’ve made and I’m wondering what to do with them," he tells The Quietus. "I’m sort of thinking about a short album. There are some really nice songs and some basic recordings that I’ve got. Fuck the albums; just keep it concise. I’m working out the best way to put the material together. I’ve got other projects that I want to work on, like documentaries and stuff. It’ll be a different kettle of fish. I’m finally coming into a clearing so I’ll be able to work out what to do next."
