Premature Ejaculation (band)

Premature Ejaculation was an American industrial band from Pomona, California, formed in 1981 by Rozz Williams and Ron Athey and dissolved in the same year. The band was reformed in 1987 by Williams and several other members not including Athey, and the group disbanded once again after the death of Williams in 1998.

History

Formation

Premature Ejaculation was formed originally in 1981, by Rozz Williams following the break-up of his band Christian Death the same year and his live-in boyfriend, performance artist Ron Athey. Unlike the deathrock band Christian Death, Premature Ejaculation did not use standard "rock band" instruments; instead, sound was created using various objects and lo-fi devices. They made two recordings, Premature Ejaculation Part 1 and Premature Ejaculation Part 2. These were never released, and only distributed copies were sent to friends.

They played very few live performances because clubs began refusing to book them due to their controversial stage theatrics. One of the acts included Athey eating a dead cat (the animal was roadkill), documentation of which can be seen in the book Hardcore California.^[1] Christian Death was reformed in the summer of 1981, and Premature Ejaculation was dissolved.

Rebirth

The band reformed in 1987, two years after vocalist and songwriter Rozz Williams left Christian Death. He was joined by Lee Wilds, and then Chuck Collison and Kris Fuller. The group's themes remained avant-garde throughout and focused on the bizarre and taboo. They would use sound clips from crying babies to chainsaws and film clips. In their early live shows, the duo would sometimes throw meat and animal eyeballs into the crowd.

Collison played a big part in the re-formed group, especially in regards to higher quality electronic gear and better recording facilities which he brought. Collison started his own record label The Happiest Place on Earth to release the groups recordings. Its name was soon changed to The Happiest Tapes on Earth, in order to avoid potential legal problems which may arise from Disney. Collison appeared on the majority of Premature Ejaculation's material.

The first two full-length records were released via their own record label. At first, these were only available in the cassette format. Death Cultures was the first to be released in 1987, and this was followed by Blood Told in Spine and then Assertive Discipline in successive years. In total, the reformed group released seven recordings, Anesthesia being the most popular of which, and was released on the more professional German label Dark Vinyl Records. They also released on the Cleopatra and Triple XXX labels.

Premature Ejaculation, although not always Williams' most well-known project of the 1990s (see Shadow Project with Eva O), remained active in some form or another right up until his death in 1998, and left behind a prolific back catalogue of releases. The group's last record, Wound of Exit, was released posthumously.

Members

• Rozz Williams
• Ron Athey (1981)
• Chuck Collison (1987–1998)
• Lee Wildes
• Gene Evans
• Stephen Messer
• Paris Sadonis
• Ryan Wildstar
• Erik Christides

Discography

References