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Artist
Bill Rieflin
12+ albums
Progressive rockexperimentalsexyniceDreamy
about
Bill Rieflin (born William Frederick Rieflin on 29 September 1960; died 24 March 2020) was an American musician who came to prominence in the 1990s for his work with Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Lard, KMFDM, Pigface, Swans, Chris Connelly, and Nine Inch Nails. He worked regularly with R.E.M. from 1997 and King Crimson from 2013 until his death in 2020. 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 Screamers band The Tupperwares. He played drums for The Blackouts starting in 1979. His bandmates included his brother Raymond, Paul Barker, Roland Barker and Erich Werner. Eventually that band dissolved and Paul Barker joined the nascent Ministry. Rieflin's earliest collaboration with Al Jourgensen was on the second single by the Revolting Cocks, You Often Forget. Later, he participated in the creation of Ministry's ground-breaking album The Land of Rape and Honey. He was noted for his performance in the live video In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (Live), which featured not only his precision percussion (alongside fellow drummer Martin Atkins), 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 sessions, he didn't really qui
