These photos are of The Reatards playing live at Gibson's in downtown Seattle in the late '90s. It was an excellent show that included a bunch of drunken antics from Jay, which seems par for the course with him. This was the era when I think the band peaked, around the time their "Your So Lewd" single and "Grown Up, Fucked Up" album came out on local label Empty Records (in fact, this show was probably a tour supporting that album coming out in 1999). Jay has played in Seattle a bunch of times with The Reatards and his next band, The Lost Sounds. This Summer he will be back again with his new band, just going by the name Jay Reatard, to play the Capitol Hill Block Party in July. He always puts on a great show and you local folks should check him out.
Jay Reatard, in real life known as Jay Lindsey, started playing music in his teenage years. At age 15 he sent a demo of recordings to garage punk label Goner Records. In 1998 he formed the Reatards and Goner released their record "Teenage Hate." The band found instant fans with their raw garage punk sound and pretty much up until they broke up steadily toured and released records. From 2001 to 2005 he fronted The Lost Sounds, a synth-punk-garage-rock band that started as a side project, but blossomed into a full band. He also did time in the Angry Angles, Final Solutions and Bad Times. In 2005, after both The Reatards and Lost Sounds had imploded, Jay Reatard started a solo career, which has led to a few releases and tours. He recently signed a deal with Matador Records, who have already released a couple 7" singles of his. It's funny, where I kinda think his music peaked almost 10 years ago (as far as the stuff I like the most), his career has gone upwards and outwards and he's only now getting attention outside of the garage and punk world. Those early 7"s I Ebayed for $50-$100 a few years ago probably are going for much more now...
4 comments:
he wasn't even 21 at this show. They made him hang out in the kitchen area before the show (eh. gross, huh?) I don't remember him being THAT drunk... The Wongs came up with them and stayed in Seattle for a few days (playing Bellingham) Great show (regardless...)
I thought he seemed drunk when he started talking about Derek Retard over the mic, then ran out into the street and tackled him and punched him, and ran back in and finished the song. I sorta have a picture of that too.
I almost took a longneck of Bud to the skull at this show...good times!
I guess I'll wear a helmet when he plays Amsterdam tomorrow night. Don't know how I ended up here, but it's good to see you're still kicking around, Thelonious Moncton. Cheers from Holland.
Post a Comment