CHRIS CONNELLY & JESSICA GALLO “PRAYER”
FOR BILL RIEFLIN’S BIRTHDAY
On Wednesday September 30th 2020, my beloved friend Bill Rieflin would have turned 60 years old. The journey for his loved ones after his passing has been a predictably hard and solitary one, but not exclusively so — despite the ugly cloud of COVID that prevented us from being with each other before and after his death, there have been glimmers of brilliant light that have helped all of us move forward and live with what has happened.
A short while ago, after his passing, a mutual friend introduced me to JESSICA GALLO, a harpist, and a certified music practitioner who became close with Bill, played for him during his long, painful struggle , and ended up collaborating with him, notably on “21ST CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN” by Toyah & The Humans, which was to be Bill’s last recording, and what a recording it is!
In an early conversation, Jessica told me that part of her grieving process was working on an arrangement for harp of the song “PRAYER” that Bill wrote for our 1996 collaboration “LARGO”. The piece is instrumental and I have some hazy memories of trying to come up with lyrics and deciding mutually that it should remain an instrumental for the album. The idea struck me that I should try and write lyrics now, and record them with Jessica and do something that would have absolutely delighted Bill (if only because of our valiant struggle through his labyrinthian chord changes!!!). And of course, what better way to celebrate his life than to issue it with all proceeds going to the clinic that treated and helped Bill during his illness.
So with very special thanks to the incredible engineer DON GUNN, we have two recordings: “PRAYER” – an instrumental for Harp , and “PRAYER” – with new lyrics and vocals by myself.
This, plus an exclusive video (also made by DON GUNN) will be available on SEPTEMBER 30TH 2020 with ALL PROCEEDS going to the VIRGINIA MASON FOUNDATION, specifically the FLOYD AND DELORES JONES CANCER INSTITUTE.
This will all be available through my Bandcamp page.
I cannot think of a better way to celebrate Bill’s birthday!
Thank you.
Chris Connelly, September 2020
Go to Bandcamp
If you wish to make your own tax-deductible donation, please visit the Virginia Mason Foundation Donate Page and select “Floyd & Delores Jones Cancer Institute” from the Designation drop-down. After clicking the button, complete your personal and payment details, and indicate that the gift is in memory of Bill Rieflin in the Tribute section. Thank you.
I will get to the title in a wee bit, it’s worth the wait (sort of). I first met Bill Rieflin very briefly at Southern Studios in 1987, the day I also met Al Jourgenson and Paul Barker. But it was not until later that year, in the summer when I was staying at Julia Nash’s apartment in rehearsals for the (Rieflin-titled) “YOU GODDAM SON OF A BITCH” double live album by the Revolting Cocks that our friendship began. He was at the kitchen table, and though we did not know each other, we started talking as if we were picking up a conversation we had finished earlier. It was about, of all things, the experimental band THIS HEAT. I just blithely assumed that everyone knew this band that I adored, and, well, it seems I was right. We even discussed THIS HEAT bootlegs, then moved on to more general matters, like JOHN GREAVES, bass player from HENRY COW, like you do…
I cannot say that I had no idea we would have a musical relationship that would stretch over three decades—I knew right then that we would. A deep, close friendship that was as easy as it was fun, goofy and inspiring.
In the context of Ministry and Revolting Cocks, Bill was vital: not only as a calm voice of reason, but as an innovator, a catalyst during impasse and a calming presence in the eye of a frequent storm. If it was not for him, I probably would have become a drug addict. He reminded me, without ever saying anything, that the CREATIVE part was always the FUN part, and if it did not seem like fun, we could make it fun. And he did, and we did. Bill taught me how to look at the creative process not as a lateral story with a beginning middle and end; he taught me to ask questions OF the process, he taught me dynamic, when to make it loud, and when to remain silent. He also knew how to bring humour into any given situation.
When we were in rehearsals for “THE MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO TASTE” in 1989, we were sitting at Paul Barker’s living room table as he patiently taught me the keyboards to the song “DEITY” which was part of the live set. Rewinding the cassette over and over, we became very curious about the opening line Al sings in the song (which is, in fact, “eyes open, empty as halos”, but we didn’t know that, and Al was not there to ask). We decided that the opening line was, in fact, “TOM & DONNY, HEAD FOR POTATOES”, thus, the creation of our alter egos: TOM & DONNY. We never really decided who was Tom and who was Donny; they were kind of a singular entity for any and all hi jinx that may ensue.
As time passed, it became clear that our musical partnership could not be contained simply within the confines of Ministry, The Cocks and the numerous other projects it spawned. Things started to gain more of a shape for us with my first solo album in 1990, “WHIPLASH BOYCHILD”, on which Bill contributed so much, but I think the defining moment was the song “THE LAST OF JOY” which started as a beautiful piano melody he had written, to which I wrote some words. It was Bill’s idea to put some “crackles” on it: scratchy record crackles… so we went to the local Salvation Army (on Halsted Street), bought the first 78 record we saw (polkas!) and took it back to the studio, playing this record that looked like it had been dragged across a construction site by a dog on the studio’s own VERY high-end turntable, all in the name of art, it sounded perfect. It was at this time that I introduced Bill to the music of SCOTT WALKER when I asked him to learn “The Amorous Humphrey Plugg” (from the album SCOTT 2) with a view to putting it on “Whiplash”. This would become an obsession for the two of us.
Bill was there to coach me through relationships, hardships and breakups; he never judged, he listened, his patience with me immeasurable. He taught me things about music theory to help me compose, he gave me more eureka moments than I can remember, he taught me to own what I did, be proud of how I created, and he also took ideas and cast them in his own brilliant light, yielding some of my proudest compositional co-writes.
The two works that stand out to me are SHIPWRECK and LARGO. Both very different records, but both an amazing adventure in creativity from beginning to end. SHIPWRECK was a band effort, though most of the compositions were mine, we booked two straight weeks for rehearsals and preproduction before setting foot in the studio. The work was hard, but it was not like a Ministry record; it never got frustrating. The days were long, but they were filled with what you wanted to be doing, and everyone walked out of that studio so proud of what we had done. That record still stands up today, and I still get amazing compliments about it.
LARGO was born out of SHIPWRECK in a way, if circuitously, after a disastrous tour for SHIPWRECK (not because of the band or the music, just stupid record company and booking agency crap, the usual). We scurried home to lick our wounds and I was at an impasse, the music business was changing, my record company was in decline because of the heartbreaking demise of its founder, Jim Nash. Bill invited me out to Seattle to write, and LARGO was born. Hilariously though, his intention, and ergo mine, was to make this brilliantly polished pop record… if you have heard LARGO, you will understand that whatever our intentions at the outset, this is not what happened. The title track clocks in at about 50 BPM and is around 8 minutes long, a sedate meditation of disquiet on guitar and piano. It was almost as if we were determined to anger any Ministry fans with no attention span as much as we could. But, as with everything, we had no intentions of anything; if we had set off to write a slapstick comedy script for a movie, then, LARGO would have come out the other end as it was: stoic, austere, challenging and beautiful.
We spent weeks in Bill’s parents’ house with an upright piano and my guitar. We made exquisite corpses with chords and with words: there were days when it was harder, there were days of ferocious creativity, but all these sounds seemed to grow organically through us from this absolute silence. We wrote the album and we would not record it for a while: I left it to Bill to mix, because it’s not my thing, and I KNEW that he KNEW that it would be incredible.
During the composition and the recording of this, I stayed with him and his wife, Francesca. These were wonderful times, games, talks, long dinners, long walks that almost persuaded me to move to Seattle.
Things changed for us: we both became involved in other projects, our friendship remained strong and involved. He would continue to help me out with my records here and there, and he would come passing through with bands he was playing with: KMFDM and then R.E.M. and eventually KING CRIMSON.
The hardest thing for me was how his illness made it progressively harder for him to play until he could not do it. We resolved, some time last year, that I would come out and we would write, unfortunately his fatigue from fighting and from chemo and his pain made this impossible. But we talked when he was up for it: we talked about the records we loved, we talked about MOTT THE HOOPLE and ROXY MUSIC. He still laughed, he still put on his silly voices and made me laugh, his sarcasm and cynicism were, as always, on point as was his love for me, and mine for him.
Bill recognized something in me and not only did he bring it out, but he embellished it, as I think I saw in him too. I LOVE that we got to make this beautiful music together, and I am so grateful that this happened in my life. I am heartbroken that I will not get to do it with him again, but I still have the gifts he gave me that I use in my creative process every day. What a beautiful, kindhearted soul.
Chris is happy to announce that THE HEART HAS TO ACHE BEFORE IT LEARNS TO BEAT will finally be available on March 31, 2020.
Forty years, twenty solo albums, numerous musical collaborations — this book contains the lyrics and poems to over 350 works, with a foreword by Shirley Manson.
To celebrate, Chris will autograph copies of the book for a limited time. Orders are being taken at Bandcamp, and books will start shipping before the retail sale date at the end of the month.
Buy Now via Bandcamp
ISBN 978-0-9664065-7-3
Paperback, 456 pages, published by Shipwrecked Industries.
On November 11th, 2019 — Chris’s 55th birthday — he releases a new album, Sleeping Partner, in digital download and limited edition CD formats on Armalyte Industries.
Get Sleeping Partner
The track listing for the album:
- Maria Imbrium
- Picassa
- The Sun Is A Maze
- Obsession Stares Back
- Private Screening
- The Belonging
- Young Magician
- The Black Hive
- L.W.W.
And bonus remixes:
- Picassa (Fantome Tranquile Remix by Dan Milligan)
- The Sun Is A Maze (M-Descent Remix by Dan Milligan)
Also soon to be available is Chris’s book of lyrics and poems, The Heart Has to Ache Before It Learns to Beat, in paperback and digital download formats from Shipwrecked Industries. The book will include lyrics including those for Sleeping Partner, and other collaborative works of 2019.
Coming November 11 2019, the publication of THE HEART HAS TO ACHE BEFORE IT LEARNS TO BEAT from Shipwrecked Industries, a four-decade retrospective of lyrics and poetry by Chris Connelly.
This book comes two decades after Chris’s last volume of poetry, Confessions of the Highest Bidder, was published, and brings together more early works, collaborations, and obscure, long-hidden gems, as well as his work with Ministry, The Revolting Cocks, Cocksure… and, of course, every solo album.
The book has a beautifully written foreword by Shirley Manson, one of Chris’s oldest and closest friends, and cover photography by Michael Begg.
ISBN and pre-order links will be available in early November — watch this space for more information.
Chris reflects on another 365 days gone by… were you able to keep up with all of his activities? Photo of Al and Chris by Derick Smith
It was another very active year which started off with SONS OF THE SILENT AGE playing the best of Bowie’s so called “BERLIN TRILOGY”: what a start to the year!! This was soon followed by the release of the solo album “THE TIDE STRIPPED BARE” in February to humbling reviews. April saw a startling WAXTRAX era succession of events where I opened as a solo artist for MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT, COCKSURE played a one off show opening for FRONT 242, and I was reunited with AL JOURGENSON, joining MINISTRY onstage, reviving our friendship and our dormant musical collaboration.
June saw the screening of INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT in CHICAGO for which I was a guest on the panel, and later in June I travelled to beautiful MONTREAL to do the same and play a solo set with the amazing DEAD DOG from Montreal.
Over the summer I recorded a vocal for the forthcoming FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY album, SONS OF THE SILENT AGE performed another sold out show in Chicago, and we went on to film promo shots for several BOWIE songs, many of which have now been shared online. (See the latest for Joe the Lion.) Another COCKSURE album was recorded, BE RICH, for Metropolis Records, followed by the band playing at all three Cold Waves festivals, in New York, Chicago and L.A.
November saw the release of the double album BLOODHOUNDS, again to humbling response, on my 54th birthday, no less. A week later I performed the entire NEW TOWN NOCTURNES album live for the first time, and the year was brought to a satisfying close by performing with MINISTRY three more times, in JOLIET and at the HENRY FONDA THEATRE in LOS ANGELES.
What next? Who knows, the year stretches out waiting to be filled with shards and fragments of my idiosyncratic creative life……