Spiritualized: Jason Pierce talks Life, Death, Drugs, God

In 2005, Jason Pierce —the one-time member of the infamous Spacemen 3 and long-time leader of the rapturous Spiritualized— nearly met his end. Undone by a bout of double pneumonia (or bilateral pneumonia, if you will), Pierce spent two months in intensive care, and clinically died twice. Amazingly, his health took a turn for the better, and by 2006 he was again performing.

This year, Pierce fronted with the sixth Spiritualized LP, Songs in A&E. In October, I interviewed the 43-year-old legend. In a fairly frank conversation, Pierce discussed his brush with death, the classic Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space album, the time Spiritualized played the World's Highest Ever Show atop Toronto's CN Tower, and whether he'd ever consider getting the old SP3 band back together.