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I met Jay when he made his Reatards tour with The Wongs out to the West Coast....He was maybe 16 years old then, and all I knew was the first few singles and that he supposedly started a band to open for his hometown heroes the Oblivians. "You Got So Much Soul" from his 1st 7" back in 1995 or so was so off-the-charts unjaded and energetic that is was pretty formative in my growing interest in garagepunk. Before that, I was into noisy and arty stuff, but otherwise, I was pretty much a hardcore kid. I thought I had to be listening to something important and/or political or smart all the time, and while I'd be reading in MRR about how garage was something that was really happenin' at the time, I didn't understand how garage was supposed to speak to a hardcore kid like me.....I mean, I DON'T SWILL PBR and GO TO DRAG RACES?!?! But that first Reatards 7" was a stepping stone toward a new obsession for me.
When I met Jay, I was practically gushing with amazement that he was there sitting on the couch in the lounge of KDVS. I treated him like some kinda high-level dignitary and said shit like "Wow...It's really an honor to meet you, man...You've done so much at you're age...it's unbelievable, really!" But he was so gracious accepting this praise. I was pretty impressed with such a display of maturity. Turns out that was some kinda fluke, though....Dude's really bristly these days. It's understandable, I guess....Now that he's majorly hyped, he plays big shows packed fulla hype-required-to-give-attention come-latelies and hip douchebags, and gone are the days of rockin' out with friends and fans in more intimate settings.
I've not been as big a fan of some of the most recent singles material he's made, but it still furthers the evidence that the guy really has the perfect pop perfection formula down pat. Blood Visions to me sounds like a landmark pop album with still some palpably punk moments. Every song has a part that sounds exactly like some other legendary influential band, but it moves from the Cars one moment to the Wipers the next and then the Cure, Devo, Ramones, The Jam, Big Star, and who knows what else. I swear that he stole that riff from "My Family" from a little-known French band called the Anteenagers MC whose first single is one of the best punk 7"es of this decade...if not THEE #1 best. Kudos for looking where almost nobody is aware of, I guess! (Funny thing is that NoBunny unwittingly re-appropriated that riff on his fan-fave song "I Am a Girlfriend".)
Due to my last dealings with him (booked a show in late '07 for him in Davis), I don't ever wanna book him again. A lotta hassle to be treated like shit. Dude was a total heel. But I'd go see him play again....he does always bring it.
Lotsa newer fans can't get over the fact that he plays every song at double-speed live. He compresses about 15 songs into 18 minutes of fury and then unceremoniously walks off the stage. That's most shows I've seen anyway. Seen him maybe 9-10 times.
Angry Angles is worth tracking down, but expect to play collector prices. I'm happy to have had these records since they were new.
Lost Sounds is full of great moments on nearly all of their records. Most were also issued on CD to make it easier to find for down-to-earth prices. Some Reatards stuff, too. Terror Visions is alright, I guess, but as far as "synthpunk" goes, I can think of a dozen or so who do it better: Leaders, Mac Blackout, Octagon Control, Leper Print, Total Control, etc. And none of that can shake a stick at the totally uncharacteristic stab that Dan Melchior made at synthpunk on the A-side of "The Post Office Line" 7".
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