Premature Ejaculation

Premature Ejaculation was an experimental noise project started in 1981 by Rozz Williams and Ron Athey. With no musical equipment, they made raw experiments with household objects and lo-fi devices. Alhough they did not release any recordings (mostly due to bad experiences with record labels that Williams had with his other band Christian Death), they did perform live and were featured in a photo article in Michael Gira's No magazine. Athey later left and became a respected performance artist. Premature Ejaculation continued, however, with Williams being joined by Lee Wilds. Williams also began collaborating with Chuck Collison and Kris Fuller on installations credited to The Happiest Place On Earth. When Wilds left the project, Collision came on board as a group member, and with this came a greater use of electronic equipment, and better recording facilities. Premature Ejaculation also started to document their recordings as Collision started the cassette label The Happiest Place On Earth (later changed to The Happiest Tapes On Earth). They were also included on the American Gothic compilation LP and a friend of the group started the label Baader-Meinhof to release their first LP. With wider recognition, other releases on various labels followed, though live performances became less common. In latter years, performances would often include other collaborators, such as Erik Freeman and Erik Christides. Rozz Williams died in 1998.