Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson dies

Photo by Chris Carter

Via Strange Attractor, the sad news of the death of Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson, of music legends Throbbing Gristle and Coil, at the age of 55.

I was lucky to move to London in time to catch most of Coil’s phenomenal 21st century gigs. Last year, at an occult festival in Conway Hall, I caught Sleazy doing his solo turn as the Threshold HouseBoys Choir. Bereft of long-term collaborator Jhonn Balance since his death in 2004, Christopherson nevertheless turned in a beautiful, provocative, outrageous, and fiercely interesting performance. Perception and preconceptions were tweaked and unravelled with abstract footage that supposedly appeared in different colours according to your sexual orientation, and footage of an execution in the forests of Thailand supposedly found amidst the trade in videos from old mobiles by one of his “house boys”. He confronted us with an unapologetic but humble window into his sexual preference for young men, and with the devout Buddhist piety they inspired in him. He spoke candidly of weeping in public on a train in England, crushed by the beauty and sadness of existence.

Fare well.