Bill Rieflin

William Frederick Rieflin (September 30, 1960 – March 24, 2020) was an American musician. Rieflin came to prominence in the 1990s mainly for his work as a drummer with groups (particularly in the industrial rock and industrial metal scenes) such as Ministry, the Revolting Cocks, Lard, KMFDM, Pigface, Swans, Chris Connelly, and Nine Inch Nails. He worked regularly with R.E.M. following the retirement of Bill Berry in 1997. He was a member of King Crimson from 2013 until his death in 2020.

Career

Early years

Rieflin was born on September 30, 1960, and began his professional career in his hometown of Seattle. In 1975, he was in The Telepaths, a band which played backup for a couple of live gigs by The Tupperwares, which transitioned into The Screamers. He played drums for The Blackouts starting in 1979. His bandmates included Mike Davidson, Paul Barker, Roland Barker and Erich Werner. Eventually that band dissolved and Paul Barker joined the nascent Ministry.

Ministry, Pigface, solo work

Rieflin's earliest collaboration with Al Jourgensen was in 1986 on "You Often Forget", the second single by the Revolting Cocks. Later, he participated in the creation of Ministry's 1988 album The Land of Rape and Honey, and was noted for his performance in the live video In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (alongside fellow drummer Martin Atkins). Rieflin's work with Ministry and its side projects lasted through to the mid-nineties, though he noted 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 did not really quit since he was never an official member.

Rieflin helped Atkins kick off Pigface, the industrial 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 grew beyond his industrial roots. They collaborated on several recordings; two in particular, The Ultimate Seaside Companion (as "The Bells") and Largo, showcase Rieflin's keyboard skills.

Rieflin's solo debut, Birth of a Giant, featured him singing in something other than a background role, and also featured Robert Fripp. Improvisations from these sessions turned up later on the CD The Repercussions of Angelic Behavior, which was credited to Rieflin, Fripp and Trey Gunn.

KMFDM, R.E.M.

Rieflin appeared on all KMFDM records released from 1995 to 2003 as a drummer, programmer, vocalist and keyboardist. He toured with the band as a bassist in 2002 in support of the band's comeback album Attak and performed on the 2011 KMFDM album, WTF?!. He also drummed for Scott McCaughey's band, The Minus 5, which usually included R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck. 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 a hired musician rather than as an official member. In recordings, Rieflin also contributed bouzouki, keyboards and guitars to the group, serving as an auxiliary member until R.E.M. disbanded in 2011.

Rieflin was a regular contributor to Swans, playing an array of instruments from the 1995 album The Great Annihilator through 2016's The Glowing Man. (He is listed as an "honorary Swan" on the band's 2012 album The Seer.)

In 2012, Rieflin performed on drums for Robbie Williams's album Take the Crown. Later that year he produced the single Crush Vaccine for Atomic Bride.

King Crimson In the 1990s Rieflin studied the Guitar Craft method created by Robert Fripp of King Crimson, and the men thereafter moved in the same circles and occasionally collaborated. Fripp performed on Rieflin's 1999 album Birth of a Giant, and from 2007 Rieflin was a member of The Humans, a band which featured vocalist Toyah Willcox (also Fripp's wife).

In an online diary entry dated September 6, 2013, Fripp announced a new lineup for King Crimson that included Rieflin as one of the band's three drummers. Although this particular version of King Crimson would never record a studio album, Rieflin would play live with the band for the rest of his career.

Following two-and-a-half years of touring (during which new percussion pieces incorporating Rieflin's drumming work made their way into King Crimson's live repertoire) and a few days after the first full-length live release of the band with Rieflin on board (Live in Toronto 2015), Fripp announced Rieflin's decision to take a sabbatical from the band, effective March 6, 2016. This was "a decision supported by all the Crimson Brothers." He was replaced on drums by Jeremy Stacey for the following year of group activity. In early 2017, Fripp announced that Rieflin would return to the band, but that (due to Fripp's desire to stave off complacency after several years of touring) Stacey would continue to drum for the group while Rieflin himself "[would] be focusing on mellotron, keys and fairy dusting, rather than using drums as a main instrument" in the new Double Quartet configuration. Rieflin thus became the band's first ever full-time dedicated keyboardist.

At the time of King Crimson's US Autumn 2017 tour dates in October–November, Rieflin once again needed to take time away from the group. The Seattle-based guitarist Chris Gibson temporarily covered for him on keyboards during the autumn tour. Rieflin rejoined the band in 2018 before taking another indefinite sabbatical in 2019. He was tentatively and temporarily replaced on keyboards by Theo Travis for initial rehearsals before Fripp and the band made the decision to not replace Rieflin, thus reverting King Crimson to a seven-member band. Fripp would summarise the situation as "regardless of the quality of player depping for Bill, simply, Bill is irreplaceable. It's not the notes that are played, it's the Billness of Bill that Master Rieflin brings to the group."

Although he would not appear onstage with King Crimson again, Rieflin would remain a nominal and fully-respected member of the band until his death a year later. Via retrospective footage, he played a significant part in Toby Amies' 2022 documentary In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50, candidly discussing his terminal stage 4 colon cancer, his imminent death, and his choice to spend his final years playing music with King Crimson.

Personal life and death

Rieflin was married to painter Francesca Sundsten until her death in 2019. Rieflin was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2011, and died from complications of the disease on March 24, 2020.

Discography Thistle-colored cells with daggers indicate a live release

+ Name of release year, artist, release title and Rieflin's contributionYearArtistTitle Contribution 1988 Ministry Drums, programming, keyboards, guitar, background vocals 1988 Revolting Cocks Live! You Goddamned Son of a Bitch Drums 1989 Ministry Drums, programming, background vocals 1990 Revolting Cocks Beers, Steers, and Queers Drums, programming 1990 MinistryIn Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up Drums 1990 Lard Drums (two tracks) 1990 1000 Homo DJs Drums 1990 KMFDM Naïve Drums (one track) 1991 Pigface Gub Drums, guitar, bass, synthesizer, sounds 1991 Pigface Lean Juicy Pork Interviewee 1992 Ministry Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs Drums 1992 Revolting Cocks Big Sexy Land Drums 1992 Pigface Welcome to Mexico... Asshole Drums 1993 Revolting Cocks Linger Ficken' Good Drums, organ, programming, production 1995 Swans Drums, sounds, percussion, 12-string acoustic guitar, sequencing 1995 KMFDM Nihil Drums (three tracks) 1995 Michael Gira Drainland Rhythm programming, keyboards, electric bass guitar, samples, engineering, production, arrangement, studio provision 1996 Ministry Filth Pig Drums (one track) 1996 KMFDM Xtort Drums 1996 Swans Soundtracks for the Blind Drums 1997 Lard Pure Chewing Satisfaction Drums 1997 KMFDM Symbols Drums, programming, percussion, photography, sequencing (three tracks) 1997 Sweet 75 Sweet 75 Drums (listed as percussion), piano 1999 Angels of Light New Mother Percussion, piano, bass guitar, organ, synthesizers, acoustic guitar, backing vocals 1999 KMFDM Adios Programming (one track) 1999 Nine Inch Nails Drums (one track) 1999 Bill Rieflin Drums, mixing 1999 Bill Rieflin Birth of a Giant Drums, bass, guitar, production, vocals 2000 Lard 70's Rock Must Die Drums (one track) 2001 Bill Rieflin & Chris Connelly Largo Keyboards, mixing, piano, production, vocals 2001 Land Road Movies Drums 2002 KMFDM Attak Drums, bass, programming, synthesizers, percussion, guitar 2003 KMFDM Sturm & Drang Tour 2002 Bass 2003 KMFDM WWIII Drums, vocals, loops (three tracks) 2004 R.E.M. Around the Sun Drums, percussion 2005 Slow Music Live At The Croc 19 Oct 2005 synthesizer 2006 Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 Olé! Tarantula Choir, drums, percussion 2007 Angels of Light We Are Him Drums, bass, guitar, organ, percussion, piano, synthesizers 2007 R.E.M. R.E.M. Live Drums 2008 R.E.M. Accelerate Drums 2009 Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 Goodnight Oslo Drums, vocal harmony, vocals 2009 The Humans We Are the Humans Drums, bass, synthesizers, organ, production 2009 R.E.M. Live at the Olympia Drums 2010 Robyn Hitchcock & the Venus 3 Propellor Time Drums 2010 Swans My Father Will Guide Me up a Rope to the Sky Drums, piano, guitar, synthesizers, organ, vocals 2011 R.E.M. Collapse into Now Drums, bouzouki, keyboards, guitar 2011 KMFDM WTF?! Engineering, sounds (one track) 2011 The Humans Sugar Rush Percussion, keyboards, bass, production 2012 Swans Drums, piano, organ, guitar, percussion, synthesizers, bass, vocals 2013 Taylor Swift "The Last Time" Drums 2014 The Humans Strange Tales Drums, keyboards, guitar, bass, sounds, vocals, production 2014 Swans To Be Kind Drums, percussion, synthesizers, piano, guitar, bass, keyboards 2015 King Crimson Live at the Orpheum Drums, percussion, synthesizers, vocals 2016 King Crimson Live in Toronto Drums, percussion, keyboards 2016 Swans Drums, piano, synthesizers, bass, guitar, vocals 2016 King Crimson Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind Drums, keyboards 2017 King Crimson Live in Chicago Keyboards 2018 Lead into Gold Drums 2018 King CrimsonMeltdown: Live in Mexico City Keyboards, production