It’s Tuesday June 2nd and I’ve just moseyed up to the Biltmore for what looks like a rockin’ good time. Memphis garage punker Jay Reatard ventured across the border to kick out the jams tonight. I’m thanking my lucky stars to see him back in Canada. You may have heard the story about how Jay punched out a stupid gear-smashing fan in Toronto, but hey, who can blame him! Anyway, I was stoked for the show.
I arrived late, just as locals Sex Church finished up their set. Yes, I know. Tardiness. Bad form on my part. (Insert lame excuse here). I figured they must have just finished, as a steady stream of rowdies flooded out the doors for an evening smoke, or to meet the pizza man. Who gets a pizza delivered to the Biltmore?? Someone with a lot of new friends, that’s who!
Once I queued my way inside, my ears were met with some excellent tunes on the house system. Punk records new and old were spinning away, courtesy of some fun-lovin’ kids at the back. I think I saw DJ My! Gay! Husband! lurking around, but I couldn’t be sure if he was behind the music. To my delight, I even heard The Misfits’ ‘Skulls’. Oh, this night just keeps getting better and better.
After hanging around for a while, making a couple of new acquaintances, I could hardly wait for the show to start. Luckily, the changeover was pretty quick, and soon the curtains were drawn and the sweaty masses made their way to the stage. I managed to weasel my way right up front, at least for now.
Jay Lindsey aka Jay Reatard & Co kicked right into the garage punk goodness, unleashing ‘I’m Watching You’ early on. The out-of-control rats-nest on Jay’s head totally covered his face, and aside for the odd head-bang, I hardly saw his visage for the whole set. He’s kind of like this strange, hairy aggressive beast up there. His fake British accent is really crazy and gives the whole thing a 70’s British punk twist. Crikey, fake accents are fun!
Jay had a mess of guitar pedals up there onstage. I wanted to swoop in for a closer look, but I figured that would be like Dorothy seeing behind the Wizard’s curtain. I didn’t want to ruin the mystery, so I averted my attention from down there. I did, however notice at one point, the singer/guitarist switched over to a beat-off old acoustic guitar, but there were no campfire songs tonight. The swirling, twirling feedback noises coming out of that thing, or the amp, made my skin crawl. I believe that was “All Over Again”. Pretty short song. Boom, it’s over, again.
Jay has been in countless bands like Lost Sounds, The Bad Times, The Final Solutions, and his first project The Reatards, from which he got his moniker. The other 2 members of Jay’s touring band were pretty interesting to watch as well. Drummer Billy Hayes was like a big hairy mastodon of sweaty rhythm, playing those simple punk beats with precision. Bassist Stephen Pope was mad as a hatter. When he wasn’t bouncing around or slicing out some delicious farty bass lines, he was usually within 10-inches of the nearest fan’s face, yelling the lyrics face-to-face, like a competition seeing who would forget the words first. He usually won. Who says backup singers need a microphone anyway?
The high point of the night for me came when the Tard Boyz whipped out the track “See/Saw”. Suddenly the crowd turned from mashpit to moshpit. Swaying and pushing became jumping and thrashing. A few pipsqueaks made their escape as the big boys came out to play. The thing that struck me was how the song came out about 10-times faster in a live setting, compared to the record which is still pretty fast.
Reminds me of why I first got into bands like The Ramones. Their songs are pretty fast, but in concert, they play those things with blinding speed. No time for lengthy introductions either. It’s almost a blending of one song into the next, maybe just enough time for catching your breath and yelling out the song title. “Substitute!” Jay did pause for a moment to curse the people at Border Services for making him wait around 4 hours before letting him into the country. But he keeps doing it cause “It’s So (fucking) Easy” – great segue into that song! This is one of the fastest-moving sets I’ve ever witnessed. Wham, bam, thank you, Reatard!
I was happy to hear “My Shadow” made it into the set; one of my favourite favourites. Jay announced his ‘last song’ well before the 12AM curfew, and in a final, mindblowing finale’, brought an eager fan onstage to slash out the last few chords of the closer. I think it might have been one of the guys from Sex Church, but I can’t be sure. It would have been way cool if it was. The pair shared a big hug after the song, quite the opposite of the whole Toronto fiasco, which you can read all about in Jay Reatard’s fantastic blog at www.jayreatard.com.
After the set, I made my way over to the merch table. I found that Jay Reatard has a lot to offer, merchandise-wise. After re-launching his Shattered Records label earlier this year, Jay has made virtually everything he has ever recorded available for purchase. I was really intrigued by Thee Oh Sees/Jay Reatard Split 7”, along with about 4 other 7-inchers up for grabs. Jay came over and met his fans after the show, signing autographs on everything from skateboards to posters and probably a few body parts (on dudes).
So if you’re sick of the Plain-Jane, corporate rock they play on the radio, try one of Jay Reatard’s records on for size. I picked up his newly-released Matador Singles CD at the show for $15. Trust me, it’s well worth it. Music like this makes me itch to pick up a guitar and start hammering away again. You don’t need fancy gear (a ‘Flying V’ guitar just looks better) or a fancy music school (Jay reportedly never went to highschool, opting to stay home and record songs). All you need is a little inspiration, and seeing Jay Reatard tonight did it for me!
Matador Singles ‘08
Newly released on Matador Records (Neko Case, Cat Power, The New Pornographers), Matador Singles ’08 is a compilation of all six Jay Reatard 7” records from the Matador Singles Series. It starts off with a bang!!! Garage-punk demons like ‘See/Saw’ and ‘Screaming Hand’ (7” #1) slowly mutating into progressively poppier tunes down the line, closing off with a special bonus track ‘I’m Watching You’, just to bring it to an even Baker’s Dozen (13 tracks total). Listen to the organ on ‘Hiding In A Hole’ and ‘Dead On Arrival’ and you’re guaranteed to be hooked on Jay Reatard’s addictive, hooky, fun masterpieces. Jay Reatard, ‘You are my hero’.
1. See/Saw (7”#1)
2. Screaming Hand (7”#1)
3. Painted Shut (7”#2)
4. An Ugly Death (7” #2)
5. Always Wanting More (7”#3)
6. You Mean Nothing To Me (7”#3)
7. Fluorescent Grey (7”#4 )
8. Trapped Here (7” #5)
9. Hiding In My Hole (7”#5)
10. Dead On Arrival (7”#5)
11. No Time (7”#6)
12. You Were Sleeping (7”#6)
13. I’m Watching You (extra track for album)
Stay tuned for Jay’s next Matador release, Watch Me Fall, due out Aug 18, 2009.
www.jayreatard.com
www.matadorrecords.com
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