Pages tagged “jay reatard”

Hometown: Oxford, Miss.
Fun Fact: Founder and main songwriter Talbot Adams used to live 100 yards from William Faulkner’s grave, where tourists often huddle around to drink whiskey and leave bottles as an homage to the late author.
Why It’s Worth Watching: As we’ve said previously, The Black and Whites are “a quintessentially rock 'n' roll band, one that seems to pull equal influence from the poppiest moments of bands like Weezer and Guided by Voices and the punkiest moments of bands like the Ramones and Black Flag.”
For Fans Of: Jay Reatard, MC5, The Ramones

Talbot Adams was preparing to move on from rock ‘n’ roll. Into his thirties, engaged and mellowing out, he gathered friends to help him record a few songs—holdovers from his years playing in garage bands like the Dutchmasters, the Preacher’s Kids and Jenny Jeans—mostly for the purpose of documentation.

Photos taken at Variety Playhouse and Star Bar by Jason Reed. Read Paste:Local Atlanta's account of the Halloween night extravaganza here.
 

[Above: Jared Swilley of the Black Lips plays in Halloween-appropriate band The Spooks.]

[Above: Jay Reatard, shown here on the cover of his record Blood Visions, plays this Friday night at the Variety Playhouse.]

As an Atlanta native, I've celebrated a lot of Oct. 31sts here. Accordingly, I find that there are certain things I look forward to every year that say as much about the city as they do the holiday itself. Here, in order, are the top five reasons I can't wait for Halloween to hit Atlanta this year. What are yours?

New York City does it big, and music festivals are no exception. Sure, the rest of the country has Sasquatch, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, and countless other shindigs worth hitting up, but New York likes to thumb their suspenders with a mid-fall event called the CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival that's just about the biggest gig, well, anywhere.

As readers might have noticed, we at Paste sort of have a crush on local music shops. They energize a local arts community in a way that even one thousand Best Buys and Wal-Marts could never match. One fine such example is Goner Records out in Memphis, Tenn., which is putting on its fifth annual music festival extravaganza this fall.

The only certainties in life used to be death and taxes. Looks like you can add Jay Reatard's workmanlike output to the mix, because he's at it again. As part of Reatard's continuing 7" series with Matador, he'll be teaming up with post-punk dilettante Bradford Cox of Deerhunter to do a split 45. Cox will tackle Reatard's "Oh It's Such A Shame," and Reatard will bring his garage-rock flair to Deerhunter's "Fluorescent Gray."

With a devilish smirk between his cheeks and a bouquet full of wilted relationships to fuel his songwriting, Jay Reatard has lurked in the grimiest shadows of the rock underground for almost a decade now. When the blogs caught on to his game, however, they didn’t let go, launching young Reatard into C-level indie fame and a deal with Matador Records. Now that he’s on the cusp of his great leap forward, Reatard’s old label In The Red Records is giving new fans a peek back into his recent past. Singles 06-07 provides a portrait of the artist as a young punk, as he begins to rein in his abilities and hone his wild showmanship.

Two things follow in the wake of Tennessee-born garage-punk maven Jay Reatard: chaos, and sweet sweet vinyl 7"s. Over the last three months he's unloaded a barrage of singles on our willing ears, thanks to a partnership with Matador Records. Fortunately, the releases went off without a hitch, unlike Matador's previous headaches with releasing eight 12" Mission of Burma singles eight weeks in a row. For those of you with a slightly-less-than-obsessive bent, you now have the chance to own your very own CD/DVD compilation, cleverly titled Singles 06-07. A recent press statement from In The Red Records tells all:

Awww... why so pouty, Mr. Reatard? Didn't you hear that Matador Records has snatched you up with a "multi-album worldwide exclusive recording agreement"? For crying out loud, dude, you're rubbing elbows with Mission of Burma and Cat Power now!

As previously reported, Matador was already releasing a cool half-dozen of this punk-rock powerhouse's 7" singles. But now it looks like the two parties are set for a longer-term relationship, according to a recent statement from Matador. There are currently plans for Reatard to drop a fresh solo album on the label in early 2009.

If that's too long to wait for Reatardaholics (we know you're out there), his next single "Painted Shut" hits on May 20 via Matador. Meanwhile, Reatard's old label, In The Red Records, will release a double LP / CD-DVD singles compilation in June. The guy sure churns out the jams, doesn't he?

So again, we ask: what's got Reatard looking so glum? Well, maybe it's the controversy surrounding a recent Toronto performance, which you can read about/watch at Pitchfork. Photographer David Waldman also has a great look at that pivotal moment just before a good face-smashing. Don't mess with Jay's personal space bubble, fans.

Catch him on tour... at your own peril:

April
28 - Atlanta, Ga. @ Lenny's *
29 - Chattanooga, Tenn. @ JJ's Bohemia *
30 - Nashville, Tenn. @ Mercy Lounge *

May
1 - Memphis, Tenn. @ Hi-Tone *
8 - London, England @ Old Blue Last
11 - Rye, England @ Camber Sands Holiday Centre (ATP vs. Pitchfork)
13 - London, England @ White Heat @ Madame Jojo's
14 - London, England @ Cafe Otto &
15 - London, England @ Old Blue Last (Stag and Dagger) &
16 - London, England @ Pure Groove Records (in-store)
17 - London, England @ "Secret Warehouse Show"
18 - London, England @ Best Laid Plans @ Proud
19 - London, England @ Astoria $

July
15 - Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Prospect Park Bandshell ^
19 - Chicago, Ill. @ Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival)
25 - Seattle, Wash. @ Capitol Hill Block Party
26 - Vancouver, B.C. @ Commodore Ballroom #
29 - San Francisco, Calif. @ The Independent
30 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Echo

* - w/ Cheap Time
& - w/ Times New Viking
$ - w/ The Black Keys
^ - w/ Spoon
# - w/ Les Savy Fav

Related links:
Jay Reatard on MySpace
Festivus: Reatards, tacos and Drew Carey
Jay Reatard's blog

Got news tips for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.

Allow us at Paste to introduce you to Jay Reatard. As you can see from the photo above, he's a real charmer.

One has to imagine that most of the little Reatard's formative years were spent in the crushing headlock of some schoolyard bully. That unfortunate surname must have earned him more than his fair share of abuse. But each insult and jab surely hardened him, toughened him, molded him into the punk-rock savior he is today. Even back then, he knew that his tormentors would live to regret their disrespect when he someday rocked their leering faces off.

OK, so Reatard was actually born Jay Lindsey. That the man would voluntarily adopt his present mantle, however, says a fair deal about his innate chutzpah. For those who haven't yet had the chance to hear this Memphis miscreant's punk squall, well, there's a MySpace page for that. As for everyone else, you already know why it's worth reporting that Reatard and his band are out on the road this spring. He's playing opener for the previously reported Black Keys tour, along with a few other scattered dates in Chicago, Australia and SXSW. Now on Matador Records, Reatard plans to drop a salvo of singles beginning in March. His 2006 effort, Blood Visions, was his first solo outing, but damned if he doesn't have a mess of past side projects to his name.

Dates:

February
22 - Chicago, Ill. @ Reggie's Rock Club

March
6 - Sydney, Australia @ The Annadale
7 - Melbourne, Australia @ E Brunswick Club
8 - Brisbane, Australia @ Club Phoenix
9 - Meredith, Australia @ Golden Plains Festival
10 - Melbourne, Australia @ The Tote
12-15 - Austin, Texas @ South By Southwest
27 - Tucson, Ariz. @ Rialto Theatre *
28 - Tempe, Ariz. @ Marquee Theatre *
29 - San Diego, Calif. @ House of Blues *
30 - Pomona, Calif. @ Glasshouse *

April
1 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Wiltern Theatre *
2 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Warfield Theatre *
4 - Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom *
5 - Seattle. Wash. @ Showbox SoDo *
6 - Vancouver, B.C. @ Commodore Ballroom *
9 - Denver, Colo. @ Ogden Theatre *
11 - Minneapolis, Minn. @ First Avenue *
12 - Chicago, Ill. @ Riviera Theatre *
13 - Indianapolis, Ind. @ The Vogue *
15 - Royal Oak, Mich. @ Royal Oak Music Theatre *

* w/ Black Keys

Related links:
Jay Reatard's blog
Terminal-Boredom.com: Jay Reatard interview
YouTube: Jay Reatard live on the street

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.