When word got out that American drummer Anton Fier had died in September, many wondered what had become of a fabled musician who in the early 1980s played on the debut albums of two ground-breaking New York ensembles (The Feelies’ Crazy Rhythms and The Lounge Lizards’ self-titled album) and was a member of the final version of Pere Ubu before their 1982 hiatus. That’s not even mentioning his own shape-shifting ensemble The Golden Palominos, which he began with fellow Lizards refugee Arto Lindsay and which spanned everything from avant funk to country rock in the 80s, and included guest appearances from Michael Stipe and John Lydon. And then there was his extensive session work alongside everyone from Jack Bruce to Laurie Anderson to Herbie Hancock (who he toured with). Through it all, his frantic but precise playing style was always present. After doing production work, he started and stopped his career in the 90s, struggling with alcoholism, before resuming again in the early 2000s.

In May 2010, he decided to revive The Golden Palominos for two New York City shows after an encounter with a fabled old bandmate of his. Here’s how Fier himself described it to me as I prepared a preview of the gigs: “There were five different versions of The Golden Palominos. This gig represents version two, which spanned the years 1985–87 with a bit of crossover into 1988. Most people remember this version and these years as the Syd Straw era. This version made two records, Visions Of Excess and Blast Of Silence. This was also the only version of The Golden Palominos that attempted to be a live, touring rock band... this is where we cut to the present... I am generally not the nostalgic type or one to look back... and in the past 23 years since the last Golden Palominos live gig I have never before considered reviving a past version, but recently I heard Syd sing and I was struck by the beauty of it and wanted to work with her again... so we're giving this a try here and if it's fun and exciting for us we might consider doing it again on a more full time basis in the fall. So this is an experiment... to see if it is possible to go back in order to go forward.”

I delved further into The Palominos’ story and Fier’s own history in a subsequent interview conducted via email which is published here for the first time...

Jason Gross: What was the initial idea behind the band?

Anton Fier: The name came first; Arto and I were in The Lounge Lizards and before that, we wanted to call it Golden Palo but got vetoed. I used the name for the first time on a David Thomas solo album, The Sound Of The Sand [1981]. Different groupings for different songs were credited for different combinations. One song was a solo track credited to Golden Palominos.

Then I started a band with Arto called Golden Palominos. The idea was an outlet for my musical ideas and collaborations with people I wanted to work with, not just ‘Anton Fier’.

Why did The Golden Palominos evolve with each album?

Each record was an experiment and some lasted for two records, never longer than that. I chalk it up to my short attention span and the fact that there were lots of people I wanted to work with and ways to explore areas of music I was interested in, and certain combos wouldn't fit with others, so one record would be this and another record would be something else.

What will be the future of The Golden Palominos? Is this a one-off reunion?

It's a two-off. There's a gig on 7 May at LPR [New York venue Le Poisson Rouge] and an unannounced gig on 11 May at the Living Room. Beyond that, we're waiting to see how we feel about this. This wasn't calculated. Didn’t think about this until I saw Syd at City Winery on 14 February and I was struck by the beauty of it, like hearing her for the first time and I heard the voice. I first heard her sing in 1983 at [the] Bottom Line with Van Dyke Parks, I was struck by the beauty of her singing and personality, very intrigued by her and then I met her and wanted to work with her. On Valentine's Day, I decided that I wanna work with her again – I hadn't thought about it since we stopped working together in 87. And if it proves to be more than nostalgia and it's fun and exciting, we'll look into playing in other cities. I would like us to not be nostalgia. To go beyond that, we would have to make some new music together.

What were your post-Golden Palominos activities?

After 87, I worked as a record producer (Victoria Williams, Joe Henry, Drivin N Cryin, The Grapes Of Wrath), sideman for Bob Mould, Peter Brötzmann, session work for other people, then the production thing wore itself out around 90, when I was dealing with alcoholism. My life and career dissolved around 91. Left NYC for six months and came back and made my own records around 92 (Japan only), started Golden Palominos again, did albums for Restless, 96 record with Nicole Blackman (Dead Inside), then life disintegrated again due to alcoholism. Stopped doing everything in 97. Stopped music (playing, producing) around 2002, I decided to [go] back to roots as drummer, playing music with musicians and not dealing with biz. I still loved music. I got a teacher and learned how to do things and became a better drummer. Doing that in New York for the last seven years and here we are. This wasn't in the plans. In 96, I decided to end Golden Palominos, I signed bad record deals and [was] not making any money and no one in band was either. There's some great work there. To me, it was over and I didn't want anyone to profit from that name so I wanted to kill it. Hearing Syd sing changed my mind. I worked as producer again, ie Jim Campalongo (Orange, 2010), Drivin N Cryin (The Great American Bubble Factory, 2009).

Could you talk more about the drum lessons you mentioned?

Never became [the] musician I wanted to be. I had a vision of where I would end up and I had an idea of the musician I wanted to be and wanted to take one last shot at that and I'm not there but I'm closer. I decided that I would learn and practice to do the things I wanted to do.

What did you learn [in the drumming lessons]?

I'm older and I’ve learned. I've made many mistakes and learned from some of them. These gigs are about my collaboration with Syd, and she's in a similar state. We've grown and I can tell in our interactions. We’re still alive, if we don’t do it now... it seemed possible, doable, let's give this a shot. We've done 100s [of] gigs and we only stand to gain from it, there's nothing to lose. How much longer are we gonna be alive? When are we gonna get the chance to do his? LPR asked Syd to do a gig for a cancelled gig and we had already talked about gigging. We had record company support in the 80s and now we don’t but we're better musicians and lived and experienced more and we'll be easier to work with, but we're operating on no budget and luckily I have a rehearsal space and musicians are working for what's available.

Grew weary of alcohol and lost enough of it. Results became very predictable and it took 20 years to figure it out.

What's the state of The Golden Palominos back catalogue? Are any reissues being planned?

The Restless stuff is available but has nothing to do with [this] gig but I think the 80s stuff is available in some form. The person who owns Celluloid was criminal and I knew that. He no longer owns the masters and I don't know who owns it now. It's constantly reissued with bad artwork and wrong track names – that's been going on for 10-15 years. It's irrelevant to me. I encourage people to not buy those records. Download them on torrents. None of the people on those records are getting any royalties. It's an embarrassment, the business regarding those records. I encourage people not to buy records but then again, nobody buys records so it's a good time to do Golden Palominos now since we don't have any records to sell.

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As it turned out, The Palominos’ catalogue was only reissued briefly in 2014 in a limited edition in Japan that is readily available on most streaming services. Regarding the LPR show, Fier said that it was “not a career retrospective – it’s the Syd Straw era, 85 to 87”. Recently, former bandmate Jody Harris (also of The Contortions) confirmed that the 2010 dates were the last Palominos shows.

As for Fier, things soured for him over the subsequent decade. Stories arose of financial problems and isolation, culminating in a journey to Switzerland for an assisted suicide on 14 September. It would be about a week before his friends and colleagues found out about it. Tragic as it is for a such a renowned musician, none of it detracts from his remarkable legacy. Take his advice and download The Palominos’ catalogue to see for yourself, particularly their crazed, angular 1983 self-titled first album. Maybe even skip the authorised channels as he suggested, if you really want to honour him.