Posted March 5, 2008
Lily Chou photo
By PATRICK EMERY
The story of the transformation of errant Memphis teenager Jay Lindsey into prolific garage punk icon Jay Reatard is reasonably well known. At age 14 Lindsey found himself in conflict with his father over the simple matter of the homework Lindsey was compelled to complete. Lindsey’s father held the educational line, and Lindsey called his bluff, leaving home, guitar in hand, with the intention of making the music Lindsey felt comfortable with. In honour of local Memphis underground legends The Oblivions, Lindsey took on the stage name of Jay Reatard, and set about living his dream.
Thirteen years later, with an output that’s as diverse as it is exciting – and a newly inked deal with Matador Records – Reatard is older, wiser and still making some of the most invigorating punk rock on the planet.
Oh, and he’s coming to Australia as well – a visit that promises to be memorable, to say the least.
“I figured there were two places in the world for people like me,”, Reatard says when I ask him what it was about punk rock that inspired him to pursue that particular destiny. “One was rock’n’roll, and the other was as a criminal. I really wanted to do something that hurt people, so I did what I thought was the best thing, which was play rock’n’roll,” he says. Reatard has just exited the recording studio, having finished what he says was a 13-hour recording session. Reatard says punk rock gave him “something to believe in” when little else held much tangible interest.
“There was something about hearing those songs that really spoke to me,” Reatard says. After initially embracing The Ramones and Devo, Reatard graduated to The Wipers and The Screamers, before “going down the path of keyboard shit” (most notably in the Lost Sounds).
At age 17 Reatard recorded a seven inch single, Get Real Stupid, under the watchful eye of his hero, Eric Oblivian (nee Friedl). The opportunity to record with Eric Oblivian was a moment that the teenage Reatard cherished immediately.
“I was so excited”, Reatard recalls. “It was the greatest day of my life at that point”, he says. “I went from seeing my favourite band to recording with them – it was like recording with the Rolling Stones”, he says affectionately. “You can’t really top that when you’re young.”
From that moment on Reatard has been prolific in the extreme, not just in terms of volume, but in creating a diverse body of artistic work, from the primitive garage rock of The Reatards, to the keyboards-razor-wire of the Lost Sounds, to the more welcoming tones of Nervous Patterns, to the recent UK punk style exhibited on Blood Visions – and a whole lot more along the way.
Are you someone who gets bored easily? “Absolutely!” Reatard replies emphatically. “I don’t try and parallel myself with pop culture trends or what’s going in indie culture,” he says. “I suppose I get bored pretty quick and like to try new things.”
One of Reatard’s projects, the Nervous Sounds, took the synthesiser tone of the post-punk/new wave musical world and gave it a dark, mildly psychotic wash. What led you down that path? “A girlfriend I was going out with,” Reatard explains. “I had this girlfriend [Alicja Trout] who owned a bunch of keyboards, and who was into Gary Numan. I decided to try and make the keyboards grow some balls,” he laughs.
While in the Lost Sounds, Reatard wrote a tune called Memphis is Dead – but despite the fatalistic title of the song, Reatard is fond of his hometown. “It’s a curse and it’s a privilege,” Reatard says, “only the strongest survive”. And while most people know about Elvis and Graceland, and some about the Sun Studios recording tradition, and a few more BB King and Beale Street, fewer are aware of The Compulsive Gamblers, The Oblivions, Reigning Sound, Greg Cartwright and the broader Goner Records community.
Reatard accepts that the best things about Memphis – subjectively, speaking of course – aren't widely known, let alone appreciated. “I think if people find out about what’s going on in Memphis they were probably told about it,” he says.
On Reatard’s latest album, Blood Visions, Reatard pursues a sound that’s closer to English punk bands like The Adverts. For Reatard, the link with The Adverts isn’t coincidental.
“I’d written punk rock off except for Wire,” he says. “I’d been to England a couple of times and I thought it was only good for assholes and fried food,” he says matter-of-factly. “
Then I got into The Adverts about the same time as I was recording Blood Visions. I reckon The Adverts should be more appreciated than they are." Not only is the music exhibited on the record a departure from Reatard’s previous style(s), so too are his vocals, with more singing and less screaming. “I realised I could say the same thing without screaming,” Reatard says simply.
While Reatard’s recent signing with Matador Records (which will release a series of Reatard singles in 2008) might suggest Reatard is on the verge of breaking through to the commercial side of the music business, Reatard pours cold water on any suggestion that he’s going to the dark side – and there’s no truth to the rumour he’s being courted by Rick Rubin. “I didn’t want to fuck with a major label,” he says. “I’m not quite ready for selling out.” At age 27 Reatard has already spent almost half his life making music – and making his living out of music. “I’ve never had a job, and I’ve always made money from music. Now I just have to decide if I want to buy $150 shoes,” Reatard laughs.
And on the verge of his first Australian tour, which will see him perform at the Golden Plains Festival, together with a few sideshows, Reatard has his own tourist pursuits already planned out. “I want to eat a kangaroo steak,” Reatard says. “Most people want to pat the animals – I want to eat the fucking things,” he says. With a barbeque planned as part of Reatard's Labour Day weekend show at the Tote on Monday 10 March, it's just possible Reatard will get his culinary wish.
JAY REATARD AUSTRALIAN TOUR
BRISBANE: Sat March 8 @ Club Phoenix w/ The Onyas, Feelin' Lucky + Insurgents
SYDNEY: Thur March 6 @ The Annandale, w/ Straight Arrows, Dead Farmers + Yes Nukes
Tickets on sale now from www.annandalehotel.com
MELBOURNE: Mon March 10 from 4pm @ The Tote - The Jay Reatard Labour Day BBQ w/ Digger and the Pussycats, Cut Sick, The Focus + The UV Race. Tickets from: The Tote, Missing Link, Polyester, Corner Box Office www.cornerhotel.com
