Jay Reatard 1980-2010

Our friend Scott Gubb just published an article on Jay Reatard 1980-2010 in the Cambrian Shield. Read: The Cambrian Shield


The underground music community lost one of its brightest young stars on Jan. 13, when 29 year-old Jay Reatard was found dead in his Memphis, Tennessee home.

Reatard, whose real name was Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., reportedly died in his sleep. He was found Jan. 13 around 3:30 a.m.

"Jay was as full of life as anyone we've ever met, and responsible for so many memorable moments as a person and artist,” said a statement from executives at his label, Matador. “We’re honoured to have known and worked with him, and we will miss him terribly."

Reatard was a prolific songwriter who played in such bands as The Lost Sounds and The Reatards, where he adopted the moniker Jay Reatard. He began his recording career at the age of 15, however, his musical legacy was riddled with controversy surrounding incidents like the punching of an unruly fan at the Silver Dollar Room in Toronto. He was also the founder of numerous bands as well as a record label, Shattered Records.

Many students at Cambrian who follow the underground music scene were saddened when they heard of the loss of one of its progenitors.

“Someone as involved as him, putting out different records constantly kind of gets taken for granted,” said second-year graphic design student Andrew Blair. “One just assumes to anticipate a new Jay Reatard album every few months and that he would always be doing it.”

In the fall of 2007, local punk band Vicious Cycle sent an email to Jay Reatard, asking him to mix their third EP, Neon Electric.

“Basically, we emailed him, asked to mix the EP and he did it for a decent price,” said Frank Chartrand, bassist in Vicious Cycle and an Art and Design Fundamentals professor at Cambrian. “We sent him the raw files and he sent them back a week later and they sounded amazing.”

In an October 2008 interview for eyeweekly.com, Jay spoke about quitting drinking and the influence Vicious Cycle had on him.

“At the moment, it’s not a ‘trying’ thing — I have. Every time I see [booze], the ‘trying’ part kicks in,” Reatard said.

When Vicious Cycle came up in the interview, Reatard said: “those seem like nice dudes! I was listening to them, and the way the kid would scream ‘the bouncer!’ was cool. They were youthful, and a crew as well.”

Reatard opened for the Pixies during their recent reunion tour. A post on the band's Facebook page the day of his death read: “we want to express our condolences to the friends and family of Jay Reatard, on his sudden passing today.”

Details on the singer's death have not yet been released.

New Promo Shots

Hey guys, here are some new promo shots we took. Everybody was having a bad hair day so we decided it would be best to only have Mark in these.