Bill Rieflin (59) – (King Crimson, Ministry, R.E.M.) was born September 30, 1960 in Seattle, Washington.
His music education started around the age of 7 with guitar, followed by other string instruments and by age 11, the drums. Bill Rieflin, a remarkably versatile drummer, instrumentalist whose work over the past 30 years spanned Ministry, R.E.M., Swans, Nine Inch Nails, Ministry and King Crimson, among many others.
“I was born in Seattle, or as I always say I was bread-and-buttered here. My first instrument was the ‘pie-annie,’ and I think I started playing when I was seven. Then, somewhere in 1970, I found the G chord on a guitar; I put my finger on the third fret of the high string and strummed it and I said, ‘Hey look, wow! I can play guitar!’ Later that year, I got some drums for Christmas. I think the drums happened because it was the only instrument left in the neighborhood band, so I had to play drums. I was 10 or 11, maybe. I eventually got rid of those damn things and sold them to another neighbor kid [because] I decided I was going to be a guitar player. I was playing guitar until I was asked to come and fill in for a drummer who wasn’t going to make it in some other local band. I hadn’t played for a couple years and warned them of that. But, apparently, I was better than their other guy, and they asked me to stay, so I did. That group was called the Telepaths. The Telepaths paved the way for the Blackouts and the Blackouts eventually – minus one member – went to go work with Al Jourgenson in Ministry. Paul Barker was the last of many bass players; Paul joined in 1981. He was living in Germany at the time, and his brother, Roland, who was an original Blackout, wrote to him and said ‘Come to Seattle! Be in our band!’ And he did. The rest is, uh, the rest.”
A Seattle native and lifelong resident, Bill was a world class musician who exhibited a talent and dedication to his craft that put him into a rare category. Known for much of his career as an extraordinary drummer, he performed with a wide range of artists from Swans and Ministry to REM and King Crimson, amongst others. Bill was also a composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist; at home on the guitar, bass and keyboards. He cultivated a highly sophisticated ear and was much sought after as a studio musician and producer.
King Crimson Biographer Sid Smith said it best “Bill’s softly-spoken voice draped itself languorously around the words he used and any observations he offered were rooted in an exacting precision that he also applied to the act of making music which was something that bordered on the sacred for him.”
Bill’s refined manner, brilliant mind, eye for the ironic and his legendary sense of humor defined him as a man of discerning taste, palate and company. He fed his seemingly unending depths of cultural knowledge with accuracies about such things as the perfect pronunciations when ordering Korean food, the study of amaro, must-sees in the Cotswolds, how to make Rieflin relish, and the crime of the adverb. An avid watcher of Jeopardy, it was the rarest of occasions when Bill didn’t already know the Question before the Answer had been fully read.
His process was surgical in its dissection of what made music great or tawdry. His opinions were always firm, but his mind always open to listen (and readily dismiss). His sharp wit and forthright comments were well-known, but he was also unfailingly generous, and his encouragements and kindnesses were all the sweeter for their sincerity.
Bill Rieflin passed away on 24 Mar, 2020 after a battle with cancer. He was 59.
