He's Not Who You Think

When Dell approached Jay Reatard (born Jay Lindsay) about their producing his first music video this past summer, the 28-year-old Memphis garage-pop maniac wanted to do things his way. "Sometimes when cameras turn on, people take themselves way too seriously," he says. "So I told them there couldn't be any plot and there couldn't be continuity between the shots. I just wanted to hang out and play some songs and have some fun."

On the day of the shoot, Reatard and his bandmates made plenty of impromptu mischief for the camera - riding shopping carts, running train tracks, disrobing and bashing out tangled-up power chords in a deserted hobo pad. "It's not like we made a mess of the place or anything," laughs Reatard. "It was pretty shattered to start with." The resulting short, which was filmed by Austin-based media collective Super!Alright!, is a three-minute video for Reatard's new song  "See/Saw." The video artfully pays homage to the 90s slacker aesthetic while highlighting the inherent, seemingly effortless pleasures of the song itself.

"See/Saw" is the first A-Side in a series of limited seven-inch singles Reatard released this year under his new label, Matador Records. Although Reatard describes the song as a hybrid of Dinosaur Jr. and 90s Britpop, it's a sugary manifesto undoubtedly his own. "See/Saw's just a simple song poking fun at how easy pop music is and how easy it is to play three chords," Reatard says. It's a sentiment laid down forcefully (and explicitly) in the song's chorus: "There's really nothing to it / And that is all that I will show to you."

Still, the song is less about ego than it is about the artist's songwriting ethos. "Keeping things simple is quite possibly the hardest thing for a songwriter to learn," explains Reatard. "And simplicity is the key to what I'm trying to do. If music is going to be fun to listen to, you shouldn't have to think about it too much. But there's a fine line between doing that and being completely dumb. I think [successfully] treading that line is where the art of forming pop music comes from."

Reatard has navigated that line with aplomb in the past the year. Recording only when his grueling touring schedule allowed, the home-recording addict churned out the Matador singles (all of which were compiled and released in October) with the same baffling speed that's driven him to press dozens of singles over the past few years. Some might balk at that level of prolificacy, but each single - from the fist-pumping "Always Wanting More" to the epic, post-punk "Trapped Here" - is a primes example of Reatard's endorphin-releasing, self-accelerating song structures. "I try to work fast so the ideas stay fierce," says Reatard. "I [just] don't want to waste time. It's not like some great spiritual thing."

"Fast" and "fierce" are fine descriptors for what the punk pariah does on tape and on stage.  Known for gnarly, banter-less live shows that marry the frenetic rush of American hardcore with the melodic pop zeal of the Ramones, Reatard is much more likely to rumble through his set list than make conversation. While it's a tendency that, at times, lends itself to jarring transitions, it also draws attention the creative pistons that have been ceaselessly pumping away in the artist's skull for more than a decade.

Reatard's recording career began at the age of 15, when a homemade demo tape he'd sent to Goner Records caught the ear of former-Oblivian and Goner Records' owner, Eric Friedl. Friedl took the young tornado, who dropped out of school to concentrate on recording and touring, under his wing. Reatard went on to form a variety of bands, including The Reatards, Lost Sounds, Final Solutions, Bad Times, Terror Visions and Angry Angles. Even excluding the myriad lo-fi, never-released solo recordings (that most likely remain hidden beneath Reatard's bed), by 2006, his oeuvre was extensive.

Still, it wasn't until the release of 2007's garage masterstroke Blood Visions that Reatard began attracting a substantial following. Critics and bloggers were suddenly, , alike  began angling for more. Major-label execs began referring to Reatard as the next Cobain, a kid who could fire a silver bullet into the heart of the emo scene. Even then, Reatard steered clear of the hype to focus on what matters to him most: crafting the perfect pop hook.

 Reatard's reputation continues to grow within the greater indie rock stratosphere. With the October release of his singles compilation, media attention and speculation has now turned to Reatard's upcoming album (to be released in early 2009), first full-length since Blood Visions. "It doesn't sound like my other records, but it sounds like me," Reatard explains. "I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel, but I'm not trying to use the version I used two albums ago either. As a songwriter, you have to be pretty in touch with where you're at. You can't try to go too far forward or to go too far back. I just try to be pretty conscious of that at all times."

Already setting his sights on 2009, Reatard says he's planning on a relatively "down" year - one that will include writing, recording and producing six singles with six different bands, all of which will be released by his new imprint and distributed exclusively by Matador. Prospective bands include Cheap Time, The Box Elders, Cola Freaks and the Barbaras, a Memphis five-piece that shares members with Jay's touring outfit. "Yeah, this coming year I'm taking a break," he says.

Right.

David Bevan is a freelance writer. He's contributed to The Fader, Pitchfork, SPIN, The Village Voice, New York Magazine Online, Magnet, Stop Smiling and XLR8R. He also acts as a contributing editor for RCRDLBL.com

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