Jay Reatard died of a cocaine overdose

The autopsy report for Jay Reatard has been released, he died of a coke overdose and the alcohol in his system probably helped it along:

Spin Article

While I'm sure this won't change anything in the local rock scene, it would be nice if people clued into the fact that doing a bunch of coke can kill you. Maybe it's not such a cool drug after all.

Jay Reatard found dead

How sad, Pitchfork, and I'm sure tons of other websites, are reporting Jay Reatard is dead:

Very, very sad news: It has been confirmed that Jay Reatard has died. He was 29 years old. More details are forthcoming.

Goner Records writes, "It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our good friend Jay Reatard. Jay died in his sleep last night. We will pass along information about funeral arrangements when they are made public." The Memphis Commerical Appeal reports that Reatard was found in his home at 3:30 am this morning.

Reatard, born Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., was a staple of the Memphis garage rock scene for years before bursting on the national scene with 2006's Blood Visions and subsequently signing to Matador. His most recent album, Watch Me Fall, came out last year.

A statement from Matador reads, "Jay was as full of life as anyone we've ever met, and responsible for so many memorable moments as a person and artist. We’re honored to have known and worked with him, and we will miss him terribly."

Jay Reatard / The Reatards

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...

Capitol Hill Block Party line-up announced!

This photo is of Akimbo rocking out in the U-District Seattle Public Library at a show from about seven years ago. I love how you can see a couple about to kiss each other in the shadows behind the band. Akimbo will be one of the bands playing this year's Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle... and one of the only heavier/noisier/punk/rock bands on the bill. Jay Reatard is playing the same day, so for rock fans, it looks like Friday is your best bet. I think it's pretty funny that the two pop bands that I find most annoying right now, mainly due to how much media hype they are getting, are both playing. That would be Vampire Weekend and Kimya Dawson. At some point I'll do some sorta Capitol Hill Block Party contest and give away CDs for some of these bands, I have a pile of U.S.E. and Kimya Dawson promo CDs I'd love to pass on to folks that like them. Here's the announced line-up so far:

Friday July 25
Vampire Weekend
Les Savy Fav
Girl Talk
USE
The Dodos
Jay Reatard
Akimbo
Pwrfl Power
Past Lives
Black Eyes And Neckties
Champagne Champagne
Plus many more!!!

Saturday July 26
Surprise Guest!!
The Hold Steady
Chromeo
Kimya Dawson
Darker My Love
The Builders & The Butchers
The Hands
Velella Velella
The Physics
Man Plus
Little Party And Bad Business
Plus many more!!!

You can get more information about the block party here.