* En anglais uniquement
One of the many side projects headed by
Christian Death's
Rozz Williams,
Premature Ejaculation was a confrontational performance-art troupe that took most of its aesthetic and musical cues from early industrial-noise provocateurs like
Throbbing Gristle and
Einstürzende Neubauten. The earliest version of
Premature Ejaculation appeared in 1981, when
Williams -- during a period of inactivity for
Christian Death -- teamed with Ron Athey to deliver a scant few performances, one of which involved Athey eating (and vomiting up) a dead cat. Unsurprisingly,
Premature Ejaculation found it difficult to get gigs, and when
Christian Death's recording career picked up,
Williams put the project on the back burner.
When
Williams left
Christian Death in 1985, he formed a creative partnership with Chuck Collison, at first calling themselves the Happiest Place on Earth. Due to their mutual interest in performance art, they decided to resurrect the
Premature Ejaculation name, and after working on some instrumental soundscapes, they staged a series of multimedia gigs in Los Angeles over 1987-1988.
Christian Death fans expecting more gloomy goth rock were in for a rude awakening: instead, they were treated to a spectacle that generally involved experimental noise, vocal samples, found-object percussion, assaultive video images, and
Williams and Collison throwing meat, entrails, and animal eyeballs into the crowd. During this period, the two core members had help with their installations from several contributors, including Kris Fuller, Erik Freeman, Todd Gooch, and Kendal Roos, among others. Meanwhile, Collison issued a cassette of the group's music, Death Culture, and in 1989 the independently released Assertive Discipline album appeared (it was later reissued with wider distribution in 1996).
Williams gradually turned his attention to other projects, most notably
Shadow Project and a revived version of
Christian Death that competed with the existing lineup. However, he and Collison periodically reunited to stage
Premature Ejaculation shows. In 1993, Cleopatra released a second official
Premature Ejaculation album,
Necessary Discomforts; it was followed a year later by
Estimating the Time of Death on Triple X. Both continued the group's experiments with sampling, electronics, and noise.
Premature Ejaculation was put to rest with
Williams' suicide on April 1, 1998. ~ Steve Huey