Book of Condolence

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Crossing Over
Book of Condolence

Book of Condolence

November 25, 2010

Crossing Over, Threshold House

On November 25th 2010 between 2AM & 6AM

Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson quietly passed away while he slept in his Bangkok home.

He left the way he would have wished to go, in the country he loved,

in his own bed and not alone.

He would have also loved the fact his body wasn’t taken away in an ambulance but, by the Poh Teck Tung.

A week-long traditional Thai ceremony will be held at Bangkok temple,

after which his cremation will take place.

He will be missed but never forgotten.

Eli

To Peter and John,

I am a latecomer to this party, to this funeral, to this sending off into the great starry fabric above, and I feel right at this moment upon having learnt not only of Jonh’s death but Peter’s also that two great artists, people this world is sorely lacking in, have disappeared before I even tasted the first notes of their music; I have missed Charon’s boat, but I hope that both of you wherever you are, even if that be nowhere at all, find peace; I can’t say like others perhaps that I am an expert in your music or in that of those genres that you occupied, but as a student and composer of classical music I must say your music has made a deep impression on me, like the first time I heard Philip glass or Arvo Part or read Ginsberg or Kafka, it is art that is so in tune with the times it arises from, especially this time of anesthetized anger at the way things are, of overloaded sensory hypnosis, of the profound silence of dumb voices and numb minds, of that slow slipping away into the folds of nothing as humanity rips itself apart in the chaos and sickness of its own vanity, of that maddening acceptance of the end, an end neither respectable nor dignified but worthy only of digust, yours is music which is both dirge and defiant, violently peaceful and peacefully violent, and the words of your songs not mere ‘lyrics’ with mere refrains but dark poetry to match these twisted times, Baudelaires amongst the cheap peddlers of language where rhymes sell for dime a dozen and meaning is now only some sort of bitter afterthought most people would rather not be concerned with, and it is to you I give my humble thanks for all that you have given to us, and all that you will still give to us all as people discover your music.

Going Up,
Beyond the reach of the vultures and Amethyst Deceivers,
Maybe I’ll see you there.

Eli
Jnzllwgr

I still cannot believe this rock spins without Sleazy ….. you are deeply missed, along with J.B…..until we all meet again…..
Chaos23chaos

Still missing you, daily!
C.

I started writing this 3 days after Sleaz’s passing and found it on my computer just now, I never finished it then, but here it is anyhow:
I am totally devastated.

I had a day off – work today (Thursday), thus I was online when the first initially vague posts (by Chris Carter on Twitter and the TG site) started to appear about Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson’s passing on. It seemed totally unreal at first and now, 3 days later, it still hasn’t really fully sunk in. By mid-day I was reduced to tears, actual tears at the loss of this most wonderful human being and friend. I had been been aware of him and his work since the release of the first Psychic TV album “Force the hand of chance” in 1982. A friend brought me a tape recording of that album to a hospital I was recovering in from some minor surgery. I was 14 at the time. Listening to that album, it took me to a very different place. A place “I” haven’t returned from since. I obviously didn’t realize it then, but that day changed my life, or more precisely it was the initial spark to discover who I really was.That friend later on gave me the album he had bought because he didn’t like it at all but I was smitten with it. I wasn’t aware then of Peter’s prior work with Throbbing Gristle, but soon delved deep into that and all the surrounding information, music, literature, art.
I have often heard it said that Peter changed so many lifes (just have a look through the Book of Condolesence here):, mine was no exception. All of this might sound like fanboy gibberish and is possibly very difficult to fully grasp in the current climate, when music largely seems to have lost the power it once held, when it has become a commodity you can have “for free” anytime, any place, any music at all – with no mystery, no magic attached.- There was a time when music played a prime role in defining who you are or how you saw yourself.
Coil were great in that they weren’t rolemodels but offered the results of their own research and soul-searching for their “fans” to further digest.
I closely followed what Peter (and John) did ever since, gradually but irrevocably losing interest in PTV after his and Geff’s departure. His work was always more than music. Much later on Geff and Peter coined the term musick, to imply exactly that. I was in touch with John Balance even prior to the release of Coil’s first album. Coil was and shall remain my favorite musical entity ever. I initially wrote to the BCM Codex address to ask for more information and was surprised to receive a personal letter back from Geff. A correspondence that ebbed and flowed ensued. Receiving a letter, often times with little drawings or nice inserts always not only brightened my day but gave me stuff to investigate, things to think about. The letters were filled to the brim with word-play, ideas, future-plans, suggestions of what to look out for, discussions of books we had read, films we had seen, artists we had discovered. All of this meant a lot in pre-internet times when information about anything and everything was not available at the push of a button, but was oft times almost impossible to come by. And inspiration then and now was rare. Coil were there at exactly the right time. A dark guiding light. Networks and friendships evolved that are still valid and growing today. The communication never ceased completely but got more sporadic circa after “Love’s Secret Domain”. I missed a first chance to meet with them face to face when I was in London in the early or mid 90s, I had been invited to join them at a party, but was too shy to go there. In spite of the friendly exchange that went before I was still starstruck. I first met both of them in person when they first started touring as Coil in early 2001. The first show I saw them play was at Amsterdam’s Paradiso in 2001. Again I was too awestruck to come forth and introduce myself. I didn’t want to impose myself on them. A year later when they played Hamburg we finally did meet and for the rest of their touring life I made sure to at least catch them at one of their shows. Meeting them before and after shows, more than once ending up at the same hotel. I mostly spoke with John as he was my “correspondent” then. His loss 6 years ago came as a huge shock. It felt like a death in the family. Worse. I had seen Coil play their concert in Vienna a few months earlier and like a lot of people, Coil themselves included, had a feeling then and there that Geff might not be amongst us for much longer, he seemed drained, frail, broken, insecure. I met him the day after the concert in front of the hotel we were staying in and held him sobbing in the streets. A sad and final moment. Or so I thought. Then Ian Johnstone became Geff’s new partner and when they did embark on another tour in 2004 I again, and fittingly, saw them in the city I first saw them perform in, Amsterdam – it was to be my last encounter with Geff. Backstage at the Melkweg Geff was playful in great spirits and it wasn’t the beard he had grown by then that seemingly had turned him into another person from that sad and broken man I had embraced in Vienna.
That was June of 2004, by November of that year Geff had fallen to his death in Sleazy’s and his home in Weston Super Mare-
R Crawley

I discovered Coil about 20 years ago, but never got to see them live. Now I never will. Although my lifestyle and desires were nothing like theirs, the music was so haunting. Rest sweetly, Peter and Jhonn.
Mimmo/Zos

I’ll miss you .. but I will always have with me your immortal art
Justin

Currently enjoying the sounds of Horse Rotorvator on a grey Sunday afternoon. I try not to think that the music exists now only on recordings. Both TG and Coil were immensely influential to me as I grew. So very sad. Sleep well, Peter.
Jason

Hope the journey is as enriching for you as your music has been for me.

G-night, Uncle.
http://www.jonesing.com Christopher Jones

Thanks for all the wonderful music. Hope to hear you again some day…
omniman

R.I.P. Peter, you were a genius. I always did want to ask him who the snuff victim was in the broken movie, and what ever became of him if it was indeed, fake…
justin

still sad you’re gone. hope you are spiritually where you hoped you would be.
cascade

Be Happy Uncle Sleazy.

May our peace and love flow to you.
LUD LEPRETRE

I simply love you.
http://topos.cc Martin Erik Fischer

Last night I had the urgent desire to listen to TG’s “Heathen” again, tired after a long working day. Instantly captured by raw energy and subtleness of their music, I felt a strong desire to go on with my own sound experiments. The result was a two hours session and a good sleep afterwards. This morning I searched for my Coil treasures rememering Jhonn Balance’s untimely death. Accidentally surfing for Coil, TG and consorts, the notice of Sleazy’s passing came a shock. I had completely missed the sad news last autumn. May Coil unite again and provide us with some more fine music out of another heathen realm.
Stewart

I first heard TG as a teenager about three weeks before they first split. I still vividly remember the day and how I felt my eyes were opened. The experience completely changed everything – opening up a whole new world of sounds and ideas. The apparent barriers of what music could be were broken down. Over the years I saw various members of TG in various incarnations but only finally got to see them all together at Village Underground last October in what has tragically proved to be the final gig with the original line up. Sleazy was great… a lovely man, seemingly bursting with renewed creative fire. I still can’t believe he has gone. This is a huge loss and such a sad one. RIP Peter.
Fanny

Coil is a Garden, Industrial Garden, a free land, a peace place . I kiss family and friends of Peter . John and Peter are gone, i loose two brothers, i’m so sad but very happy because they put seeds in my brain during 21 years, they still exist .
Toute mon affection et de belles pensées pour cette grande famille industrielle …
boy_in_a_suitcase

Devastating news. As if someone in my most immediate family has died…
Before Jhonn died I had a dream about him. We were both walking in a desert in a hot day. He was wearing a black t shirt… The scene changed and we got in a dark room, with a lot of small lights on the walls and on some shelves. It was getting darker in the room and I was turning more lights on, but it was getting even darker as I was turning the lights, I was panicking, while Jhonn was looking over his shoulder at me with that evil smile on his face… Next scene again in the desert walking beside him in the hot day, he was singing “The only thing to fear is fear itself, The only thing to fear is fear itself!”. We reached a steel tower. Then he quickly rushed to it and before I was able to stop him, he climbed extremely quickly (like on fast forward) and jumped from the top. As he hit the ground, his body stood there, but as in a cheap old movie, his spirit arose from the body half transparent coming towards me, while his singing was filling the air – “The only thing to fear is fear itself!” I woke up in a shocked state not having any idea that the dream will kind of come true a couple of months down the road.
This time, no dream, no warning. The same sickening feeling of profound loss…
Deepest condolences.
elaine

worked the mental health industry!! You gave me hope and validation to help people who perhaps could not have been reached as people going through whatever shit not “patients”
shalomxxxxx
Elaine
elaine

Coil
..my inspirations over many years. When my main work was in mental health….( with a statuary body I tried to be creative .Some I am told were helped……
http://www.formsofthingsunknown.com Ferrara Brain Pan

I dreamed last night that I was reliving the final moments of Sleazy’s life. In this dream, he died on the floor, lying down after having passed out during an exhausting music production session, prostrate on an Arabian carpet in a sedate English drawing room, and it was Andrew Liles who discovered the body. Then (in my dream) it was *me* who had died, and I was reliving the moments of my own death, trying to change something somehow so that I might survive. Then I woke suddenly at 7:00 am, got up to feed the cat, and the phone rang. It was my stepmother, calling to tell my my father is seriously ill and had stopped taking his medication and was ‘waiting to die’…

Sometimes still, two months later after learning the news, I have a hard time believing that he’s gone…
http://www.thrillstation.com Héctor Belloc

I’ll miss you so so so much!!! @unklesleazy :{(
Dylan Berg

Have mercy on the devil, he’s a friend of mine. <3
http://www.johnharford.com John

You Are Missed

Matt Ihrig

Thank you for all that you created and all that you left behind.

We will always remember you.

ramiro

farewell sleazy
Steve from the Allotropes

We all die. United in this death factory. Only TG really gave us the soundtrack, which makes it even sadder.
Scott Spencer

Peter’s art touched my life, my heart, my mind, and my spirit more deeply than I could possibly ever express. His art opened paths to me I would have never otherwise known existed. Peter helped open the way and I would not be who I am today were it not for his beautiful presence in my life, expressed through his sound and images. You shine somewhere else now. We all love you so and feel your echos with us now. Be in peace.
Love,
Scott
http://www.PYR8FREETV.com The Phantom Street Artist

The Phantom Street Artist shares that it was wonderful to work in collaboration with you as a great visionary Director and Barbara Krueger for The award winning MTV Video, “Bulls on Parade” for Rage Against the Machine.
Peter was a great mentor a distinguished creative force and auteur on so many levels of expression!

In sharing my grief with Peter’s family and friends, please contact me to advise me of the memorial services.
matthew walters

Truely one of (if not the) greatest creators of sound and music. Now your atoms return to star dust.
oaklandaho

????
silent pair

it seems like a few months ago that jhonn passed. and now i find out (late again) that you’ve gone as well. thanks for the inspiration occult and sonic (or both at once.)
Maarten

The chaos sun will never fade.
Robin Christopherson

This is Robin – your nephew in the UK – I wish I’d got to know you better. (Please can someone let us know when the memorial wwill be. Thank you.)

Beefuton

Hello Robin ..we are trying to contact you about a possible memorial could you please send us our email .. thanks Bee

wayland

thank you

all the lights are black
Lepra Alméra

this is sad
krafty23

have a good sleep Sleazy!

Thanks for everything ; )
matt trombley

Hope you find balance.peace and thank you.
Adriano

miss you.

thank you
Steven Moore

Your art, for all of its darkness, has shed much light into my life.

Thank you for the artifacts you have left behind.
Twentythree

The soundscapes created back by your “old” mind, will follow me for lifetime.

Maybe afterwards I`ve also the posibillity to hear the new ones.

Thank you Mr. Christopherson
Jesse Edwin Lillefjeld

The circle has closed. Thank you for everything that you have done. A cold dream on a dark star.

May you feast forever.
Nicholas Faith

No band/collective has influenced my spirituality and creative outlets as coil, throbbing gristle have.so hard to believe when we lost jhon,now peter.all my love to you both and your families,I hope someone steps in to continue publishing of your vast works.I can think of nothing worse than the music you left being unavailable for the future generations to come. peace and love my friends,blessed be, Nico
Dennis Eklund

The music lives on.

and
I’ll never forget
the wise words from the departed:

Eat your greens, especially broccoli.
Bobo-b

I sincerely hope someone will be curating Peters amazing archive, and put the materials out as he intended?
It would be such a tragic waste otherwise. Im sure there must be a few of his trusted friends who have the insight and vision to carry the Unklesleazy vision forward!?
erduprince

thanks for the great influence you had on my life unkle…
erduprince

you left a tremendous mark on my life unkle…thanks…
RG

Another tragic loss…Too many of these recently, but Peters feels far too early…Sad days…
Paddie Thompson

ive only got in to coil recently but this still cuts me up
RIP
Paddie Thompson

A character, a true legend
RIP
olivier prada

We lost a great men, a great band… I have no words to express my sadness … (exuse me for my bad english Peter , i am french)

Rest in Peace…

“A moon-piece to fetch up the golden cup”
alchemye

just more alone dear , but what is the what? somewhere, somehow, we will meet in this very chaoz of being

Happy Birthday SleazySunday Feb 26 - 6:39pm