Jeffrey Lee Pierce – Wildweed

Wildweed is the debut solo album by Jeffrey Lee Pierce, released in 1985 while The Gun Club was on hiatus. Genre: alt-rock / punk-blues / rock. Recorded in London with production from Craig Leon and contributions from Andy Anderson on drums, the record carries Pierce’s trademark intensity while adding touches of new wave polish and funk-inspired grooves. It balances raw energy with more melodic and atmospheric passages, showing a broader range than much of his earlier work.

The album delves into themes of desperation, loss, love and fractured faith, delivered with Pierce’s urgent, haunted vocal style. Tracks like Love & Desperation and Sex Killer emphasise aggression and grit, while others highlight a more reflective, gothic quality. Though more polished than The Gun Club’s output, Wildweed retains the same restless spirit and remains a vivid snapshot of Pierce’s creative drive at the time.

Reviews

“Despite being recorded in London during the short gestation period between The Gun Club’s breakout trilogy and the ethereal Mother Juno, Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s Wildweed is coated in a fine, gritty cloud of Americana, starting from its Southern Gothic album art and then threaded through familiar themes of death parties, the abandoning God and frantic pleas for sex or love or both.” — Sputnikmusic