William Rieflin
Encyclopedia
In the past, Reiflin has worked with many notable groups in the industrial rock
Industrial rock
Industrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused...
, experimental metal and related genres, including Ministry
Ministry (band)
Ministry is an American industrial metal band founded by lead singer Al Jourgensen in 1981. Originally a synthpop outfit, Ministry changed its style to industrial metal in the late 1980s. Ministry found mainstream success in the early 1990s with its most successful album Psalm 69: The Way to...
, the Revolting Cocks
Revolting Cocks
Revolting Cocks, also known as RevCo, is an American–Belgian industrial rock band and sometime supergroup that began as a musical side-project for Richard 23 of Front 242, Luc Van Acker, and Al Jourgensen of Ministry.-History:...
, Lard
Lard (band)
Lard is a hardcore punk/industrial band founded in 1988 as a side project by Jello Biafra , Al Jourgensen , Paul Barker , and Jeff Ward . Biafra is perhaps best known as the former frontman of the punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
, KMFDM
KMFDM
KMFDM is an industrial band led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, who founded the group in 1984 as a performance art project...
, Pigface
Pigface
Pigface is an industrial rock supergroup formed in 1990 by Martin Atkins and William Rieflin.-History:Pigface was formed from Ministry's The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste tour, which produced the In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up live album and video. For the tour, Al Jourgensen brought...
, Swans
Swans (band)
Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...
, Chris Connelly, Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
, R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
, and many others. Rieflin lives in Seattle, is married to the artist Francesca Sundsten
Francesca Sundsten
Francesca Sundsten is an American artist. Born in Hemet, California, but moved to the Seattle area at the age of three. She has also lived in England, Malaysia, Boston, and San Francisco. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from San Francisco Art Institute in 1987 and her Master of Fine Arts...
, and is one of the founders of the independent music label First World Music.
History
Rieflin began his professional career in his hometown of Seattle. In 1975, he was The Telepaths, a band which played backup for a couple of live gigs by the pre-The ScreamersThe Screamers
The Screamers were a punk rock group active in the Los Angeles, California area in the late 1970s. The Screamers were pioneers of a genre now known as "synthpunk," and can also be classified as art punk....
band The Tupperwares.
He played drums for The Blackouts starting in 1979. His bandmates included his brother Raymond, Paul Barker
Paul Barker
Paul Barker , also referred to as Hermes Pan, is the former bass guitarist, producer and engineer with the industrial metal band Ministry from 1986 to 2004...
, Roland Barker and Erich Werner. Eventually that band dissolved and Paul Barker joined the nascent Ministry
Ministry (band)
Ministry is an American industrial metal band founded by lead singer Al Jourgensen in 1981. Originally a synthpop outfit, Ministry changed its style to industrial metal in the late 1980s. Ministry found mainstream success in the early 1990s with its most successful album Psalm 69: The Way to...
. Rieflin's earliest collaboration with Al Jourgensen was on the second single by the Revolting Cocks
Revolting Cocks
Revolting Cocks, also known as RevCo, is an American–Belgian industrial rock band and sometime supergroup that began as a musical side-project for Richard 23 of Front 242, Luc Van Acker, and Al Jourgensen of Ministry.-History:...
, You Often Forget. Later, he participated in the creation of Ministry's ground-breaking album The Land of Rape and Honey
The Land of Rape and Honey
The Land of Rape and Honey is the third studio album by industrial metal band Ministry, released in 1988 on Sire Records. The image on the cover appears to be an electronically processed version of a photo of a burned corpse in the Leipzig-Thekla sub-camp of Buchenwald...
. He was noted for his performance in the live video In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (Live)
In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up
-Video:A companion home video of the concert also exists, featuring the same tracks as the audio except it is bookended by two "bonus" songs. The beginning of the concert starts with a very textured dual drum jam than segues into "Breathe". After playing Stigmata, Jello Biafra comes on stage and...
, which featured not only his precision percussion (alongside fellow drummer Martin Atkins
Martin Atkins
Martin Clive Atkins is an English drummer and session musician, best known for his work in post-punk and industrial groups including Public Image Ltd., Ministry, Pigface, and Killing Joke...
), but Rieflin's genteel fashion sense. His work with Ministry and its side projects lasted through to the mid-Nineties, though he notes that he was never credited as a member of Ministry proper, always as an "other" musician. Therefore, when he parted ways with the band during the Filth Pig
Filth Pig
Filth Pig is the sixth studio album by industrial metal band Ministry, released in 1996 on Warner Bros. Records. The title was allegedly derived from a statement made in the British Houses of Parliament, where bandleader Jourgensen was described as a filthy pig by MP Teddy Taylor...
sessions, he didn't really quit since he was never an official member.
Rieflin helped Atkins kick off Pigface
Pigface
Pigface is an industrial rock supergroup formed in 1990 by Martin Atkins and William Rieflin.-History:Pigface was formed from Ministry's The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste tour, which produced the In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up live album and video. For the tour, Al Jourgensen brought...
, the industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
collective that would grow to incorporate hundreds of artists, formed a friendship with labelmate Chris Connelly and founded First World Music. Like Connelly, Rieflin's work has grown beyond his industrial roots. They have collaborated on several recordings; two in particular, The Ultimate Seaside Companion (as "The Bells") and Largo, showcase Rieflin's frequently overlooked keyboard skills.
Living in Seattle gave Rieflin the opportunity to build relationships with other prominent musicians including Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
and Trey Gunn
Trey Gunn
Trey Gunn is an American musician, known for his membership in progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003, playing Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick.-Biography:...
of King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
, Scott McCaughey
Scott McCaughey
As a singer and songwriter, Scott McCaughey is the leader of the Seattle and Portland-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5.He is also bassist for Robyn Hitchcock's most recent touring band, The Venus 3, along with Bill Rieflin and Peter Buck....
of the Young Fresh Fellows
Young Fresh Fellows
The Young Fresh Fellows are an American alternative rock group that was formed in 1981 in Seattle, Washington, by Scott McCaughey and Chuck Carroll; Tad Hutchison, Chuck Carroll's first cousin, joined for the recording of the group's debut album in 1983....
, Sascha Konietzko
Sascha Konietzko
Sascha Konietzko , also known as Sascha K and Käpt'n K, is a German musician and producer. He is the founder, frontman, and "anchor" of industrial rock band KMFDM. Konietzko jokingly purports himself to be the father of industrial rock...
of KMFDM
KMFDM
KMFDM is an industrial band led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, who founded the group in 1984 as a performance art project...
and Peter Buck
Peter Buck
Peter Lawrence Buck , is an American rock guitarist who is best known for playing in and co-founding alternative rock band R.E.M....
of R.E.M.
R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
Fripp contributed to Rieflin's solo debut, Birth of a Giant, which also featured Rieflin singing in something other than a background role. Improvisations from these sessions turned up later on the CD The Repercussions of Angelic Behavior.
Rieflin appeared on all KMFDM records released from 1995–2003 as a drummer, programmer, vocalist and keyboardist. He toured with the band as a bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
in 2002 in support of its comeback album, Attak
Attak
Attak, the first KMFDM album following a three-year hiatus, was released in 2002 on Metropolis Records and is the group's twelfth studio album overall. It was recorded in Seattle, Washington...
. He also drummed for McCaughey's band, The Minus 5
The Minus 5
The Minus 5 is an American rock band, headed by musician Scott McCaughey and featuring R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck.-Band history:Formed in 1993, McCaughey designed the Minus 5 as a pop collective, with each record the group put out featuring a new lineup...
, which occasionally included Peter Buck. Eventually Buck offered Rieflin the opportunity to sit in with R.E.M., who were missing a permanent drummer since the 1997 departure of Bill Berry
Bill Berry
William "Bill" Thomas Berry is a retired American musician, multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band R.E.M. In addition to his drumming duties, Berry played many other instruments including guitar, bass guitar, and piano, both for songwriting and on R.E.M....
. The band gave him the live drummer slot in its 2003 tour. They later announced that Rieflin would fill the role indefinitely, though once again as an "other" musician rather than as an official member. In recordings, Rieflin also contributed bouzouki
Bouzouki
The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
, keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
s and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s to the group, serving as an auxiliary member until R.E.M. disbanded in 2011.
Rieflin maintained a weblog through the end of 2004. In it, he ruminated on his day-to-day doings and mental state, recounted the exploits of his two cats, Pim and the Egg, and obliquely referred to his fellow musicians.
Rieflin is involved in a music collaboration project entitled The Humans
The Humans (band)
The Humans are a rock band featuring singer Toyah Willcox, former REM drummer Bill Rieflin and musician Chris Wong. The band have released two studio albums, We Are The Humans and Sugar Rush and have performed live in the UK, Estonia and the USA....
, which consists of him, Chris Wong, Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
and Toyah Willcox
Toyah Willcox
Toyah Ann Willcox is an English actress and singer. In a career spanning more than thirty years Toyah has had 13 top 40 singles, released 22 studio albums, written two books, appeared in over forty stage plays and ten feature films, as well as voicing and presenting numerous television shows...
. The band performed a series of live dates in Estonia in Autumn 2007 and 2009, and released their debut album We are the Humans on May 1, 2009.
Rieflin contributed to the Swans' 2010 album My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky
My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky
My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky is a studio album by Swans released on September 23, 2010; it is their first studio recording in 14 years...
and the upcoming KMFDM album, WTF?!, which is to be released in 2011.
Band affiliations
- 1000 Homo DJ's
- The Angels of LightThe Angels of LightAngels of Light are an experimental group that was formed circa 1998 by singer/guitarist Michael Gira after he disbanded Swans, the group he had founded in 1982...
- The BellsThe Bells"The Bells" is a heavily onomatopoeic poem by Edgar Allan Poe which was not published until after his death in 1849. It is perhaps best known for the diacopic repetition of the word "bells." The poem has four parts to it; each part becomes darker and darker as the poem progresses from "the jingling...
- Chainsuck
- The Hellboys
- The HumansThe Humans (band)The Humans are a rock band featuring singer Toyah Willcox, former REM drummer Bill Rieflin and musician Chris Wong. The band have released two studio albums, We Are The Humans and Sugar Rush and have performed live in the UK, Estonia and the USA....
- KMFDMKMFDMKMFDM is an industrial band led by German multi-instrumentalist Sascha Konietzko, who founded the group in 1984 as a performance art project...
- Robyn HitchcockRobyn HitchcockRobyn Rowan Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar....
and The Venus 3 - LardLard (band)Lard is a hardcore punk/industrial band founded in 1988 as a side project by Jello Biafra , Al Jourgensen , Paul Barker , and Jeff Ward . Biafra is perhaps best known as the former frontman of the punk rock band Dead Kennedys...
- MinistryMinistry (band)Ministry is an American industrial metal band founded by lead singer Al Jourgensen in 1981. Originally a synthpop outfit, Ministry changed its style to industrial metal in the late 1980s. Ministry found mainstream success in the early 1990s with its most successful album Psalm 69: The Way to...
- The Minus 5The Minus 5The Minus 5 is an American rock band, headed by musician Scott McCaughey and featuring R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck.-Band history:Formed in 1993, McCaughey designed the Minus 5 as a pop collective, with each record the group put out featuring a new lineup...
- PigfacePigfacePigface is an industrial rock supergroup formed in 1990 by Martin Atkins and William Rieflin.-History:Pigface was formed from Ministry's The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste tour, which produced the In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up live album and video. For the tour, Al Jourgensen brought...
- R.E.M.R.E.M.R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
- Revolting CocksRevolting CocksRevolting Cocks, also known as RevCo, is an American–Belgian industrial rock band and sometime supergroup that began as a musical side-project for Richard 23 of Front 242, Luc Van Acker, and Al Jourgensen of Ministry.-History:...
- The ScreamersThe ScreamersThe Screamers were a punk rock group active in the Los Angeles, California area in the late 1970s. The Screamers were pioneers of a genre now known as "synthpunk," and can also be classified as art punk....
- The Slow Music Project
- SwansSwans (band)Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...
- Sweet 75Sweet 75Sweet 75 was a band formed by Krist Novoselic in 1994 after the death of Nirvana band member Kurt Cobain. The band released one album before splitting up in 2000.-History:...
- Ten Seconds
- The Telepaths
- The Vagaries
Solo discography
- 1999 Birth of a Giant (with Robert FrippRobert FrippRobert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
and Trey GunnTrey GunnTrey Gunn is an American musician, known for his membership in progressive rock band King Crimson from 1994 to 2003, playing Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick.-Biography:...
) - 1999 The Repercussions of Angelic Behavior (with Robert Fripp and Trey Gunn)
- 2001 Largo (with Chris Connelly)