of drummer Terry Graham and guitarist Rob Ritter. In the early stages of his career, Pierce became friends with his idol Debbie Harry, having met Harry and Chris Stein through his presidency of Blondie's U.S. fan club. 1980s The Gun Club's debut album, Fire of Love featured the songs "Sex Beat" and "She's Like Heroin to Me". The album also contains a version of Robert Johnson's "Preachin' Blues" and the love song "Promise Me". In July 2014, Australian musician Spencer P. Jones argued that the blues influence in Pierce's music was largely the result of his access to the record collection of Canned Heat frontman Bob Hite, who allowed Pierce to come to his house and choose ten albums from Hite's vast blues record collection as he was dying. The follow-up album, Miami, was produced by Stein, and features renditions of "Devil in the Woods," "Sleeping in Blood City" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Run Through the Jungle." Pierce stated that he preferred Miami, and dismissed Fire of Love: "I can't even remember making it. What can you say about a record that you cut for 2500 bucks in 48 hours, on speed? It was just punk rock." In September 1983, as the Gun Club prepared for an Australian tour, two band members quit due to financial concerns and ongoing frustration with Pierce's behavior. Pierce arrived in Australia with bass player Patricia Morrison and enlisted two members of support act "The Johnny's", Billy Pommer Jr and Spencer Jones, to fill in, plus Kid Congo, who flew from the United States to join them after being convinced by Pierce. Jones described the Gun Club's music as "way more brutal and full-on than any metal band I have ever heard." The Las Vegas Story (1984) was the band's third album, seeing the return of Kid Congo Powers, drummer Terry Graham and a new bassist, Patricia Morrison. Dave Alvin also played lead guitar on two tracks. The album featured tribal beats ("Walking with the Beast") and slide-guitars ("Eternally is Here"), and other tracks included "My Dreams", "Bad America" and a cover of "My Man's Gone Now". The cassette tape version of the album also featured an extra track, "Secret Fires", missing from the vinyl L.P. but later available on the C.D. The album is dedicated to Debbie Harry, "for her love, help, and encouragement". In December 1984 the Gun Club played two gigs in