Miami is the second studio album by American rock band the Gun Club, released in 1982.[2] It was released on Animal Records, founded by guitarist Chris Stein of Blondie, who also produced the album.[3]
Debbie Harry, also of Blondie, appears as a backing singer on various tracks on the album under the pseudonym "D.H. Laurence Jr." The album front cover photograph does not include bassist Rob Ritter who had already left the band. Before leaving, Ritter first taught all the bass-lines to Patricia Morrison, his replacement in the Gun Club and former bandmate in the Bags.[4]
Billy Idol had met up with Pierce in an L.A. bar around the time of Miami and later revealed his commercial hit "White Wedding" had been an attempt to emulate "Mother of Earth" from the album.[5] The song was covered by alt-country band the Sadies on their 2001 album Tremendous Efforts and Swedish band bob hund, with lyrics in Swedish, as “Mamma din jord” on their 2019 album 0-100.
Miami was ranked among the top fifty "Albums of the Year" for 1982 by NME.[14]
In a 1982 article about the band, Scott Isler described their approach as "nostalgic revivalism" which is "unique...in overhauling country blues for a bloodcurdling contemporary impact. Far from camping it up, Pierce respects the elemental power of his inspiration; his eerie semi-coherent imagery are in line of descent." Isler says that the band's "understated accompaniment is similarly effective with its less-is-more minimalism. A potent, unstable blend." According to Pierce, "[e]ven though we idolized an older style of music, none of us were good enough to play it! What we came up with is our own version. I find myself writing about the feeling of being lost."[15]
Jeffrey Lee Pierce – vocals, guitar, piano, background vocals on "Watermelon Man", lead guitar on "Run Through the Jungle", "John Hardy" and "Mother of Earth"
Ward Dotson – lead guitar, background vocals on "Watermelon Man"
^Martin, Gavin (February 2010). "The Gun Club: Miami / The Las Vegas Story". Classic Rock. No. 141. p. 89.
^"The Gun Club: Miami". Mojo. p. 114. [P]arts of Miami are ferocious.
^"The Gun Club: Miami". Q. p. 131. [The album] was perhaps their most coherent, 'Bad Indian' and 'Like Calling Up Thunder' coming on like a prototypical White Stripes.
^"The Gun Club: Miami". Record Collector. p. 83. Produced by Blondie's Chris Stein, it streamlined the sound of Gun Club's debut Fire of Love...
