This post was submitted by Rohan

We lost many talented artists in 2009 making it a pretty tragic year. Those hoping for a better year in 2010 were given the first shocks. Yesterday, we lost R&B artist Teddy Pendergrass and musician Jay Reatard, who found dead at his home. He was 29. Reatard had been making music since 1995, playing in various bands in his home of Memphis, TN. With the support of local labels like Goner records, Retard went on to have a solo career issuing countless singles and a full length on In the Red. In 2008, Reatard was picked up by Matador Records, which he went on to release another singles collection, as well what would become his last full length, Watch Me Fall.

Listening to Watch Me Fall now is eerie, not only because the songs deal with loneliness and death, but because they do so in an upbeat almost “funny ha-ha” way.  No matter what people had to say about Reatard, a quote from David Malitz, Washington Post Click Track Blogger, sums it up “Jay Reatard wanted you to think he was a son of a bitch, but he wasn’t. Just a good dude who wrote awesome songs.  Tons of ‘em.  Later man.”

In remembrance enjoy this interview I conducted in the Summer before the release of Watch Me Fall. There is more to the interview than what was posted, but after listening back to the tape, I felt no need to add anything to this piece. R.I.P Jay – you’ll be missed.

Enjoy this extra special song of the day as well, Here is one of my favorite of Jay’s songs “Hammer I Miss You”.

Right click to download “Hammer I Miss You.”

I recently spoke with Jay about his wonderful new record Watch Me Fall (out now, go cop that). Along with the interview I’ve included a selected discography for those who may be new to his work, an embed of his short documentary, Waiting for Something, and a playlist spanning his massive body of work.

Jay Reatard (born Jimmy Lee Lindsey) has been making music since 1995. First with the Reatards, then with The Lost Sounds, and so many other projects it’ll make Bob Pollard’s head spin. In 2006, Jay released his first “solo” record Blood Visions on label, In the Red. It’s been all whirlwind heat from there; Jay has played 300+ shows, released a singles comp on In the Red, signed to Matador, and released a series of 7” (compiled on another singles comp).  Jay also has his own label, Shattered Records, which just started a subscription series (all details here).

Last week Watch Me Fall, Jay’s second solo record, was released on Matador, and this fall he is setting out on a Shattered Records tour. DC fans can catch him in B-more on October 3^rd with an amazing line up, including ex-Gravy Train, Hunx and His Punx, Omaha’s Box Elders, and the thoroughly insane Nobunny. All in all, Jay Reatard is a busy dude.

Interview:

TNG: What is the difference between making a single versus making a record? I read that this record is the first record you made knowing it was going to be on a label.

Jay Reatard: When you’re creating something with no expectations, it’s a little easier to not overthink yourself. When I was making Blood Visions, I didn’t even know I was making a solo record. This was the first time I made an album knowing it was going to be a solo record. Blood Visions started off as demos for a previous band I was in [The Lost Sounds]. I kinda got a lukewarm reaction to some of the new songs. With this record, I had to make sure it was the record I wanted to make, because I am gonna be playing these songs live for the next year or so, and my name is gonna be on it.

TNG: The Lost Sounds had lots of synthesizer, while Blood Visions was pretty spare. With Watch Me Fall there is a return of instrumentation. Why did you decide to add to the formula?

JR: When [The Lost Sounds] broke up I was just sick of instrumentation. I just wanted to have bass, drum, guitar, and voice. After playing 300 shows with that lineup for the past three years, I decided it might be a good idea, or a little more dynamic, while making a full-length record as opposed to singles, to put a few bells and whistles here. I didn’t go overboard. At first, I decided on the idea of making this kind of orchestral garage album – something really simple, but garage sounding. I made a couple songs that way but then scratched them. I took off a lot of the instruments. They ended up on the record but I stripped away a ton of the instrumentation.

TNG: I also read that this record was going to be more “twee” inspired, but was unsure if you were just fucking with people or if you were really going for it?

JR: I guess I’d be lying if [I didn’t say] that whole thing was me more of just being slightly manipulative with press stuff. Just trying to fuck with what people’s expectations of what the record was going to be. I don’t really necessarily feel that that was the direction I even planned on going. It was just something that just popped up in the mouth to try to see if people would actually believe it. But then somewhere along the line some of the songs ended up sounding much softer than I had planned on them sounding.

Yeah, twee…I don’t even know what that means. I guess when I think of that, I think of Belle & Sebastian, things along those lines. I think it was me just kind of playing on what people would expect when you’re signed to what they consider more of an indie rock label versus a punk label—that you’re going to go soft. So it was just toying with peoples’ expectations a bit.

TNG: You are currently signed to Matador, a label with such rich history. What decisions went into signing with Matador? Were they any Matador bands that you loved so much, you just had to be part of the label too?

JR: In the mid-’90s, I was into Pavement, like a lot of 15-year-olds. I liked the Blues Explosion a lot in the early ’90s when I was younger. There were quite a few things that I liked on the label. But honestly, what really turned me to their label was just the way they ran it. I really like the balance of what they consider, having this kind of professional environment that is still really about music and about having fun. A good balance of half being on your friend’s indie label, and being on a real label [whose] goal is to really sell records.

TNG: What music are you big on right now? I know that when you record you don’t really listen to music, but is there anything that you are feeling at the moment?

JR: I’ve actually been listening to a lot of gangsta rap from the 1990s.

TNG: Oh, really!

JR: Like Project Pat, I’m really feeling that record. I dunno, I went through this huge phase of getting really burned out on punk rock, probably like 10 years ago, and I started listening to like really extreme stuff, like this gangsta rap stuff and black metal. Sometimes it’s really good for me to listen to something that doesn’t even sound like something remotely I would want to attempt musically.

TNG: You wouldn’t want to make a gangsta rap album?

JR: [Laughs] I don’t think so. I don’t think I have cred for that. I don’t know if I’m interested in coming off that ironic. As far as rock bands lately, closer to what I’m playing, I’ve been jamming the Box Elders record lately. I guess I always go back to listening to the same staples. I could be happy to sit and listen to the same five Flying Nun records, Henry Rollins, The Wipers and Devo for the rest of my life. Just listen to 10 records for the rest of my life.

TNG: You’ve been making music since ’98, in the pre-digital age. What major changes do you see with releasing records back then to now. How has that changed the way you make and distribute music? Are you worried about leaks? In essence, do you feel the Internet is a good thing or a bad thing?

JR: Well, you know, it’s both. Just like anything else, like a weapon, or any other sort of technology or anything of those sorts, its all about who’s using them. So for a lot of people, the accessibility of anything they can Google; they don’t really handle it well. They end up getting lost. They lose an identity. I think sometimes when you discover things that take a little time, or a little bit of effort, you kind of, once you get into them, get attached and very proud. Like, “This is what I’m into, this is what I am.”

I think when you can go onto the next thing so quickly, I don’t know if it is like some sort of weird postmodernist thing where your identity is what you consume. But when you’re consuming everything at such a fast rate, who the fuck are you? I kind of think that’s a really negative thing. The positive thing is, well, like for a band, like the band I’m in, it really helps when we go on tour. We’re reaching a lot more people than if we were, say, from 1985, and we were trying to do things like Black Flag and do a tour of VFW halls. I dunno, I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing. I think that digital technology coming into the process of making music is bullshit as well. It’s opened me up to a lot of larger scale ideas I couldn’t normally do at home…but on the other hand, if being an artist is defined by the decisions you make, and you are allowed to, say, do infinite undos on your songs, then what’s artistic about that? You aren’t making any decisions.

TNG: While still on the Internet, you have a Twitter account that has recently come under fire for a couple of posts, one about Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and the M83 tweet. You have said before that the press has gotten you wrong, as they peg you for a drug addict, or an alcoholic, and even a dick. What is your take on the issue?

JR: (Laughs) You know, man, the funny thing is, I don’t really like that M83 band, they’re pretty lousy. They probably don’t like what I do either. That’s fair enough, everyone’s allowed to do what they want to do. The funny thing about the Pains of Being Pure at Heart thing is I own their album [laughs]. So it’s like people take themselves too seriously. Half the time I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t on purpose, but it’s fun to get a rise out of people sometimes. You shouldn’t take things you read on the Internet too seriously, especially when it’s somebody drunk at 4 in the morning on their cell phone if it took them to a stupid fucking website called Twitter. How seriously can you take that?

I mean like, Twitter is like the diary of the brain; it’s too easy to connect to. It goes straight to my website. So its like, yeah okay, I felt like putting something on the website today, so let me just write something that could be really meaningful or completely dumb. But I think that Twitter’s role is not meant to be serious at all. Anyone that’s going to do something serious with it is pretentious. It’s meant to be completely stupid. I don’t even think, you know, when I type things on there, it doesn’t even cross my brain that, “Oh man, I could get some kind of attention or press out of this.” The last thing I thought was Pitchfork would toss it up and try to make some sort of fake controversy out of it. I have no problem with [Pains of Being Pure at Heart] at all. Actually, I think that their songs sound quite nice.

TNG: I don’t understand why people don’t realize that you have a sense of humor. I mean, your name is Jay “Reatard.”

JR: Yeah, I don’t understand. I did, when I was younger, create some sort of reputation that I guess I always used to say, “It takes one day to create a reputation, and ten years to live it down.” I’ve never been allowed to be taken very lightly. It seems like everything I say is taken [at] face value. How serious can I really be about putting a picture, on the only picture disc I’ve ever done, of me with BBQ sauce on my face, and a picture of my ass with coke on it? I’m just being sarcastic about it. I mean, people are saying, “Oh I’m a drug addict.” Okay, I guess I’ll reinforce that by putting an eight-ball of cocaine on a picture disc. I tend to get lost on those people.

TNG: You play so many shows a year, mostly in clubs. Lately you have been playing bigger festivals both here in the U.S. and overseas. How has it been playing festivals versus playing clubs?

JR: I find that sometimes with larger crowds there are two ways to draw them in: one way is to antagonize them, extra, and one is to play into what they want, like: “Hey guys, you having a good time?” I tend to option for the former. I feel as long as you can still stimulate people, especially when you’re opening up for another band, it works to your advantage. They’re not gonna remember you most of the time if you’re just being boring. I feel as though I have a healthy amount of a bit of some sort of spite, or a bit of aggression towards audiences. I don’t know…I think America’s a really fucked up place now, and people need to enjoy that, it draws them. I don’t know if I enjoy larger audiences. But we’re still playing to 600 people or less (in clubs).

TNG: How has Watch Me Fall influenced your live set? Since it has a more dynamic range of instrumentation, does it mean bringing out more guys to play it, or stripping the sound so everything flows?

JR: Well, on this [next record store] tour, the plan is: I hired an extra guy to play all the acoustic parts. On almost every song, the only theme that ties them all together and keeps them in common is always the really loud distorted guitar, and a completely clean acoustic guitar doing all the rhythm. I’ve kind of been missing that sound; not having that much more staccato rhythmic feel of the acoustic. For these record store shows, we’re doing 12 shows only in record stores, so I don’t think it would be really beneficial to approach it like it would be in a bar. The reason I approach it like that in a bar, is because when I go see a band at a bar [I] kind of rock out and have this experience. But at six in the afternoon, at Amoeba, I’m not sure if we’re gonna approach it that way, so we’re bringing an extra guy along to help me sing harmony, play some acoustic guitar.

TNG: Because you are out on the road so many days out of the year, what is your diet like? Do you have any favorite fast food chains, or do you try not to eat junk?

JR: We try not to eat fast food much anymore. It kinda got bad for a while, to where when we weren’t financially making ends meet so well, and things were just starting off for this band, we definitely survived on a diet of Taco Bell and Taco Bell. At this point we pretty much eat at Whole Foods every day for lunch, and then eat at the venue. The only things we ask for them to have for us [are]: hummus, raw vegetables, raw fruit, and juice. That’s about it. We’re pretty un-rock-&-roll in that sense. But if I had to pick, it would be In ’N Out Burger, a Double Double with an order of fries—that would probably be my favorite fast food meal.

TNG: Wrapping up, now that you have a higher profile have you had any odd experiences of being recognized on the street?

JR: [Laughs] In New York or L.A. that’s happened. It’s kinda weird. I was just walking randomly in New York, on vacation, down the street and this guy just came walking down the street. The guy had a single of mine he had just bought at this record store. Not if I’m just walking through some neighborhood, no [I don’t get recognized], but if I’m walking close enough to an independent record store, or something of that sort, that stuff occasionally happens. That’s just because there’s this concentration of people that might be into the stuff that I’m creating, otherwise not really.

I don’t think I’ll be seen in some shopping mall. Actually, it makes me really happy. I brought my little sister shopping at a mall the other day, and more than once I got laughed at based on my appearance. It kind of makes me feel really good. I think those kind of moments—I spend the majority of time in bars around people that like what I do—humbling experiences like a 12-year-old kid saying that you’re ugly, those things are important in life.

Jay Reatard, A Selected Discography:

The Reatards – Grown Up Fucked Up (1999): This is the second full-length of The Reatards. Originally started by just Jay, the Reatards is rounded out by Steve Albundy (bass) and Elvis Wong (drums). Grown Up Fucked Up, is a loud, shouty punk record. Jay’s voice is much rougher than on his later projects. Listening to this record, you can tell that everyone is having a good time, despite the anger and bitterness in the lyrics.

Lost Sounds – Lost Sounds (2004): The Lost Sounds is Jay’s band with Alicja Trout. Starting after the demise of the Reatards, the Lost Sounds lasted from 2001-2005. In that time they managed to push out four releases, this being the last. Most of the songs on this record resemble Blood Visions if it had buzzing synthesizers on it. This is the closest Jay get to a punk rock dance party.

Jay Reatard – Blood Visions (2006): Described earlier in the interview, Blood Visions is Jay’s first solo record. In some ways it sounds like where the Lost Sounds would have gone without synth, which is no coincidence because it started off as Lost Sounds demos. The lyrics are once again dark (see “It’s So Easy”), but the music is fun as hell. Even though it may be the end of the world, put a smile on your face.

Jay Reatard – Singles 06-07 (2008): The first singles record compiles the In the Red material Jay recorded a little before and after Blood Visions. Some of Jay’s best songs are compiled here, such as the highly addictive “Hammer I Miss You.” It also contains a few retakes/demos of Blood Visions tracks.

Jay Reatard – Matador Singles ’08 (2008): In 2008 Jay Reatard singed to Matador, and released a series of 7”s that were be compiled to CD. The compilation works as a road map of Jay’s solo output. The songs are more dynamic, while still staying true to style. This collection contains the essential cover of Deerhunter’s “Fluorescent Grey,” as well as the jams “See Saw” and “Always Wanting More.”

Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall (2009): Released just a week ago, this record expands Jay’s basic guitar, bass, drum formula of Blood Visions, adding other sounds, and more acoustic guitar. Watch Me Fall displays an artist who started as just another angry young punk and has honed his sound into a blend of both kiwi and punk, making music that is cheery in melody, but still nihilistic in lyrical content. (First single: “It Ain’t Gonna Save Me.”)

Watch the Waiting for Something Documentary:
Waiting For Something – a short documentary about Jay Reatard

Listen to samples from Jay’s Discography:

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