Download: Hunx and His Punx “Lovers Lane”

(from Too Young To Be In Love out now on Hardly Art)

Hunx blew out of the desert right into the hearts of millions of teenagers everywhere, hyphenating years of admirably trashy Rip Off-style rock ‘n’ roll with his world-famous stint as one of the four heads of Gravy Train!!!! His new record on Hardly Art is all Kim Fowley-cum-Phil Spector teenage tragedy rock and it sounds like Kenneth Anger’s Kustom Kar Kommandos looks. He speaks now while naked on Valentine’s Day. This interview by Chris Ziegler.

Where did you get the world’s tiniest leather-daddy jacket?
There’s this store down the street from my store called the Antique Center—it’s owned by this crazy man whose father owned the junk store and he died, and he grew up there and it’s his life. I go there sometimes on break or when I’m bored, and I just saw it like, ‘Oh my God, I need that.’ His mom just gave it to me! I priced it at $50 because I feel anyone who wants to spend $50 on that is a really cool person and deserves it more than I do. But it wouldn’t even fit on a dick. Maybe a baby dick. Like a small … man’s penis.
Like midget size?
Midgets could have a big one. You never know.
What animal print best shows off your manhood?
Leopard print! I’m over zebra. I’ve done all the animal prints. I think I’m one of the only men who wears animal print. It’s a girl thing. I like getting it at thrift stores. I wore my Frederick’s of Hollywood one-piece underwear set all the time until someone stole it in Paris, and I just bought this silky men’s underwear at a thrift store the other day and I was wondering—is it gross to buy underwear from a thrift store? But I always do it. I usually wash ’em. I don’t wanna have scabies again. If you wash stuff, it’s OK. I had scabies for six months but I don’t know where it came from. I had to do this toxic treatment like nine times. It can cause brain damage.
What’s the most pleasurable way you ever damaged your brain?
Probably huffing Lysol. I think I wanted something else, but that’s all I had. That was just like … being a crazy teen. I’ve just done spray paint, Lysol, whippits and that spray cleaner stuff—that’s the best! The lens cleaner’s what got me started. I don’t do it anymore, but every time I see a duster I kinda wanna huff it. It’s probably how an alcoholic feels when they see a bottle of whiskey.
What’s your best broken addiction?
Shopping? That’s up there. Doing pills and shopping at the same time. I’d take a bunch of painkillers and go to the drug store and walk around for hours and spend like $100 on stuff I didn’t need.
What’s the best present your high self ever got your sober self?
A tiger statue. I was like, ‘What the fuck is this?’ If you have money to spend, it’s better to go shopping when you’re high, but if you’re poor it’s not a good idea.
Are you at your sexual peak now?
I’m on my third sexual peak.
What’s a sexual valley like?
That’s me being a weird celibate person for months on end. Then I think sex is disgusting. I had it in December and was like, ‘I’m never gonna have sex again!’ and I was totally grossed out by it. Then in January I had sex with like eight people.
Who broke the sex ban?
This footslave guy. He rubbed my feet for like an hour. He’s my only footslave but I think they usually go for a long time. It was a dream situation. The first time was in my bedroom but then I started going to his house because he had a flat screen TV. I’d make him do my laundry and stuff and watch something really stupid like ‘Desperate Housewives’ or ‘American Idol.’
Mozart had a song called ‘Lick My Ass.’ Are you as dirty as Mozart?
No, he didn’t! It’s called ‘Lick My Ass’? He wanted his ass to get licked?
He also was into people shitting in his bed.
Wow—that’s cool. I’m not into shitting. I wrote this song called ‘I Vant to Suck Your Cock’ and the other side is gonna be called ‘Monster Mouth.’ So take that, Mozart!
What is the fastest way to your heart?
Candy. A lot.
How much would it take to purchase you?
They gotta look cute, too. But I like sour candy.
If you had to die at the climax of a party you had organized, how and when would you want to go?
I always thought it’d be cool if my best friend kinda … killed me out of nowhere. Like I didn’t even know there was drama and they reached over and stabbed me. To death. It just seems like a surprise.
You’re so cheerful—you like candy and surprises!
I just think it sounds cool. I don’t wanna think about dying a slow painful death or killing myself, so it’d be cool if my friend just reached over and killed me.
Where if anywhere would you be uncomfortable showing your dick?
Anywhere my mom is, even though she’s already seen it—internet lurker! She was like, ‘Are you a porn star?’ I just told her it was for art. And that I couldn’t control it being on the internet and she got over it. I didn’t think she’d actually really care, but she kind of did. I had to like really keep my Facebook on lockdown cuz I have 2,000 friends and most of ’em are people I don’t know, so once in a while someone would tag a naked photo of me and I’d have to rush to a computer to untag it in hopes that my mom wouldn’t see it. But I just saw her and she told me she’s over Facebook, so I’m relieved.
Can we expect an explosion of naked photos now?
Now it’s on—tag away, people. I actually used to have this strange obsession of taking naked pictures of myself. This is before cell phones. I had this camera with this really shitty remote and I would set up scenes of me with like giant stuffed animals, and I’d get a boner and take a million photos and I made this little binder of them.
You and Shannon wrote the new album, but do you miss just having songs delivered to you by people who are all begging to write for you?
I really do like it in a way. It’s a cool thing people don’t do anymore unless they’re huge stars. Like teen stars or pop stars. I’m really into it, actually. I’m still kind of doing that here and there—with Fred Schneider. I didn’t even get a lot of grief for it. I just recorded another album alone and played all the instruments, and I feel like people are like, ‘Whoa—you can play guitar? And drums?’ I feel like they don’t realize that about me. I think it’s slightly like a gay guy thing. As in how guys kind of back in the day … I don’t know if it’s like that anymore, but you know how people were like, ‘Oh, girls can’t do things.’ Like, ‘He can’t play! He just dresses crazy and acts nuts.’ But I can do it!
What else are you great at?
Being funny. I like comedy but I feel like everyone I know who’s a stand-up comedian can’t carry a normal conversation. They’re just always practicing. Like trying out their routine while I’m trying to tell them something important, and they’re like on stage. I don’t wanna be like that. Sometimes on stage I can’t stop talking.
I heard you were rolling on the ground begging people to piss on you.
That is most likely a true story. The worst is if I get really high before a show, cuz then I was like lying on the ground begging my band to slow down. My friend was like, ‘I went to your show and I couldn’t see you the whole time cuz you were lying on the ground.’
Why don’t you travel with like a nice lawn chair to lounge on?
Good idea alert!
Or a piano you could roll around on?
Oh my god—that’d be like when I’m older.
How will you re-invent yourself after rock ‘n’ roll?
I don’t really think about when I’m older. I’m just gonna stay young.
Can we take a moment to acknowledge Michelle Santamaria who is now playing in your band? Michelle, who L.A. loved in the Pinkz and Bitchschool and Loli & the Chones?
Isn’t Michelle so great? Her guitar playing kills me. It made me cry. When we were recording, some of the songs were really sad. I don’t know what happened. I just got really into singing about sad stuff. I’m not trying to make people cry, but I don’t know. After so long, you wanna sing about something kind of serious.
‘Blow Me Away’ is about your father’s suicide, isn’t it?
Yeah, that’s about my dad. I feel like if you love someone and they die, the nicest thing you can do is write a song for them. Just to help me get over something—or I don’t know. It just feels really respectful.
Is it true you wake up in the middle of the night and do demos of sad songs you don’t remember in the morning?
Yes—that’s what I recorded an album of. One’s called ‘Say Goodbye Before You Leave.’ It’s about Jay Reatard. I was so bummed. Another is ‘When You’re Gone.’ They’re just stuff like that. Well, just a couple are really sad. A lot are just really pop. This solo thing might be all sad songs.
Did you ever think of doing like the plaster-caster thing and selling collectible Hunx dildos?
I really wanted to sell whips! When we were on tour with Jay and Nobunny, Nobunny had this little whip and I stole it and I’d whip everybody. I woke up one day with a whip in my handbag like, ‘What happened last night?’ Actually, I’m really tame in my life now unless I’m on tour.
What’s the scariest state?
I almost got murdered for being gay at a Dairy Queen in the middle of Texas. Somewhere between Denton and Austin. We just got in the van and sped away and then Brontes got a blow-job at the next truck stop. But me and Heather wouldn’t even get out of the van! That definitely put everyone’s spirits back in check. We were on tour with our friends V.I.P.—an all-gay rap group, and our roadie would wear like onesies, and everywhere we went V.I.P. would put on a show and start singing and dancing. … It was actually two fathers and two sons, the people who wanted to beat us up.
A father-son attack team?
A double father-son attack team!
Two generations of assholes!
It was crazy! And Brontes and Bear from V.I.P. are all Southern and they want to fight back, so they start talking all this shit to them. I high-tailed it out of there! I’m not into violence at all. It freaks me out. You don’t know if they have guns.
What’s the opposite of this? The most romantic experience in Texas?
What happened at the next truck stop. I don’t know if it’s really that romantic. Walking through the soda aisle and some trucker grabs your butt—it’s kind of sexy.
Have you ever picked someone up that quickly and confidently?
It probably didn’t work out for me. I kind of wait to be preyed on. I like to lure ’em in.
Do you have Hunx groupies? Now that you were in Italian Vogue?
I don’t know if I’d call them groupies. Sometimes there’s a couple gay guys like lingering around. But not always. I’ve seen two give each other the eye—like, ‘Back off!’ I love it. ‘Guys, please! There’s only one of me!’ Actually I like to leave and give them nothing. Believe it or not, I’m kind of picky.

L.A. RECORD PRESENTS HUNX AND HIS PUNX WITH BLEACHED PLUS LIVE MEXICAN WRESTLING ON SAT., JUNE 18, AT NOMAD GALLERY, 1993 BLAKE AVE., FROGTOWN. 7 PM / $10 / 18+. GET TICKETS HERE! (NOTE: SHOW HAS BEEN MOVED FROM SHOW CAVE!) HUNX AND HIS PUNX’ TOO YOUNG TO BE IN LOVE IS OUT NOW ON HARDLY ART. VISIT HUNX AND HIS PUNX AT MYSPACE.COM/HUNXSOLO.

Black Lips – Let It Bloom
Mika Miko – We Be Xuxa
Jay Reatard – Blood Visions
Abe Vigoda – Skeleton
Clorox Girls – J’aime Les Filles
Carbonas – Carbonas
Le Shok – Le Shok
Lovvers – OCD Go Go Go Girls
Regulations – Regulations
The Spits – The Spits

-Blaque Chris

On a rain drenched Saturday, a large group of friends and family gathered at Memorial Park Funeral Home to say goodbye to 29-year-old Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., best known by his infamous punk rock stage name, Jay Reatard.

“My son was a legend in his own time,” said Lindsey’s mother, Devonna May, standing below one of Lindsey’s trademark Flying V guitars, which had been hung high on the back wall like a rock-and-roll crucifix. Her comments capped an evening of heartfelt testimony about the too-brief life and astonishing creative output of one of Memphis’ most unique and prolific musicians.

For those who could not attend, here’s a transcript of the eulogy delivered by Lindsey’s friend and fellow musician, Goner Records founder Eric Friedl. I’ve also included a funny story shared by band mate Stephen Pope about the day Lindsey finalized his recording deal with New York indie Matador Records. [Read More]

[Saturday, January 16th] fans and friends will get a chance to pay their respects to garage rocker Jay Reatard, who was found dead at his home in Memphis early Wednesday morning.

Reatard’s memorial service will take place at 5 p.m. on Saturday at Memorial Park Funeral Home, located at 5668 Poplar Avenue in Memphis. It is open to the public.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Memphis Police are searching for a possible suspect in Wednesday’s death of Memphis musician Jay Reatard at his Cooper-Young home.

Officers were called to the 900-block of Meda around 3:30am and found 29-year old Jimmy Lindsey, Jr., also known as Jay Reatard, dead on arrival. The Homicide Bureau is handling this as an ongoing investigation.

Anyone with information that could help police are urged to call Crime Stoppers at (901) 528-CASH (2247). You can also submit your tip at www.528cash.org, or you can text your tip by typing the keyword AWARD to 274637 (CRIMES). If an arrest is made, you could be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $1000 from Crime Stoppers of Memphis and Shelby County, Inc. [Read More]

The Goner message board banner reads as follows:

R.I.P. JAY REATARD
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.

We at L.A. Record are saddened by the news today that Jay Reatard has died at the age of 29. He was one of the very first people we interviewed for L.A. Record when we started back in 2005.

Here is the original interview which he conducted by payphone after taking a Greyhound cross country for a show on the west coast and we also have an interview we did with him when he came through Los Angeles back in March of 2008. To read click here.

UPDATE

Via: Paste

According to a banner sitting atop the Goner Records message board and a tweet from Memphis newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, garage rocker Jay Lindsey, better known by his stage name, Jay Reatard, died in his sleep last night.

Details are scant right now, but according to the Commercial Appeal’s story, Lindsey was found dead around 3:30 a.m. this morning in bed at his home in Midtown Memphis. No cause of death is known at this time and a police investigation is underway.

We reported Reatard’s angry twitter dissing his ex-band last month, sending them back to their wifes, etc, and it looks that bassist Stephen Pope and drummer Billy Hayes have currently joined forces with a band their names rhyme with better, Wavves.  Reatard’s new bandmates are Anders Thode and Jacob Elving of the Danish punk band the Cola Freaks.

Download: The Dutchess and the Duke “Hands”

(from Sunset/Sunrise out now on Hardly Art)

The Dutchess and the Duke were already great when they came through Los Angeles almost exactly a year ago, but their beautiful new album Sunset/Sunrise (produced by Gris Gris’ Greg Ashley) has Lee Hazlewood smiling proudly down from somewhere above Sweden. They speak now to the Black Lips’ Jared Swilley, conducting his first interview ever.

This feels weird. This is the first interview I’ve ever done.
Jesse Lortz (guitar/vocals): Are you starting your journalism career?
Yeah, I guess. Was the Fe Fi Fo Fums single ‘You Might Get Me’ the precursor to the Dutchess and the Duke switching to that kind of style more?
Jesse Lortz: Kind of—like I tried to get out of it. I kept telling Tre, ‘I can’t write anymore stupid Fe Fi Fo Fums songs anymore.’ And he was like, ‘Dude, you have to because you said you would.’ ‘All right—I’ll write this song that’s totally unpunk, but probably more punk than anything I’ve ever written.’ That is what was in my heart pretty much. It wasn’t like, ‘Let’s party! Let’s get fucked up!’ It was more kind of miserable shit I guess, in my heart. And that doesn’t make for good party songs.
When you first started playing out with Dutchess and the Duke, were the crowds automatically kind of different? Like switching genres?
Jesse Lortz: Yeah, and plus we hadn’t really done any shows until that Fleet Foxes tour. So everybody at our shows was like Pitchfork dudes. Just jokes or whatever, just people that I had never really associated with or gone to shows with. I didn’t even know Pitchfork existed until our record came out and then it was like, ‘Oh! There’s this whole thing going on.’ It was crazy. You’ve gone through the same thing, I’m sure, where all of a sudden it’s not the same 50 people at your shows. There’s like strangers coming to your shows that are talking to you about your songs. Mark [aka. BBQ] I know gets pissed because he’s like, ‘There’s all these fucking jokes at our shows.’ It’s weird. It’s not really who you’re trying to reach out to. But that’s who picks up on it because that’s who reads the Internet, I guess.
But you don’t mind doing that?
Jesse Lortz: No. I’ve also learned along the way that you can’t really judge. You know, I don’t want to be judged. You don’t want to be judged. You can’t really judge somebody just because they wear certain clothes. Some dude that’s walking around in a football jersey, you know—he might have been raped by his dad. We don’t know.
Did you get any fallout from the Horizontal Action crowd? Or any of the old-school stuff?
Jesse Lortz: I don’t really think so. I kind of feel like everybody in that crowd was ready to do something different. You can tell by the Black Lips or Jay Reatard or King Khan and BBQ—like all that shit is really different than Rip Off Records or shit like that. I kind of feel like that whole scene has evolved with us in a way.
I always felt like it was a good thing to break out from—it almost felt like a little club. It was cool to get out of that. I still like it, and I still see the same people for the most part everywhere. But it’s kind of neat to get to play in front of college kids or people you never associate with.
Jesse Lortz: Totally. They like music too, and they have experiences too. It’s not like it’s just us or the same people that would go to all our other shows. And the people that liked the Fe Fi Fo Fums like the Dutchess and the Duke even better. I’m sure we’ve alienated a few people but I think that they obviously don’t really care about us or care about our music, so we don’t really need them.
Is it more fulfilling? Like your other bands were more punk bands that were fun—dance party stuff. But is it more fulfilling getting up there and … well, obviously it’s more heartfelt and deeper than other stuff you’ve done.
Jesse Lortz: I feel like when we were doing the Flying Dutchmen or the Fe Fi Fo Fums, I was lying. I felt super fucking depressed every time we played a show. I felt like, ‘Fuck, this sucks. I hate all these people. I don’t want to fucking be here.’ And now I actually feel good after we play. I’m happy. I like talking to people after we play at our shows because I don’t feel like I’m faking it.
I’ve felt like that too—where you have to put on a ‘every night is a Saturday night, everywhere you go’ thing, especially when you’re on tour. Was it hard making the switch to just you and Kimberly? With just two acoustics and your voices? Is that nerve-wracking at all since you’re like naked up there?
Jesse Lortz: Not really. I feel like it’s more real. We connect more with the audience. We connect more with each other. We connect with the songs more. We’re not hiding behind a bunch of stupid shit. It’s more about the music. As cheesy as that sounds, it’s more distilled.
How has it been since you added the full band?
Jesse Lortz: It’s cool. It really fills it out. Like we had Jered and Melissa from the Ponys come with us. And we’re playing a show Friday where we’re going to have piano and bass. It’s not like a permanent thing but we like to mix it up. We’re going to do an East Coast tour in January and it’s going to be just Kimberly and me. A lot of it is just whatever we feel like doing. It’s nice to not have to fill a certain sound or niche. We can just do whatever the fuck we want.
Y’all had a string section in Chicago, didn’t you?
Jesse Lortz: It was these two girls. I totally can’t remember their names. Matt would know. He was just like, ‘Hey you’ve got strings on this record. Do you want a string section for your Chicago shows?’ And these girls are in the Chicago Orchestra. They’re professionals and shit. They just came in and we’re like, ‘Here’s the notes.’ And they played it once and nailed it. It was cool.
You guys did a big tour with Modest Mouse, didn’t you?
Jesse Lortz: Yeah, we played the Aragon in Chicago. There were at least two thousand to four thousand people.
How do you find the transition to a huge stage treating you?
Jesse Lortz: We just curl up into a little ball up on stage. Being kind of a small-sounding band with huge rooms, you have to make it more intimate. But I like playing to more people sometimes because you can’t really pick anybody out. You’re just kind of playing to a mass.
I don’t know about you, but the most nerve-wracking shows I’ve ever played are to like ten people at a record store because you have to make eye contact.
Jesse Lortz: I HATE playing in-stores. I hate it so much. Like that thing we did at Vacation was like miserable.
I always feel like my face is on fire.
Jesse Lortz: I’m always shaking. I get up and I’m like, ‘Why am I fucking shaking? There’s like ten people here and they all like us.’ But you know, when you’re playing for three thousand people and you can’t see shit, it’s like, ‘Okay, fuckers. Here’s some songs.’
How were y’all received with Modest Mouse? And the Fleet Foxes? Those are two pretty big tours.
Jesse Lortz: I think people really liked it. It was really different than Modest Mouse so it was a nice little change I guess. And it was cool to play because that’s not really our … well, maybe it’s becoming our audience, but it hasn’t historically been our audience. There were like kids or whatever. It was cool. People really liked it. We sold a lot of shit. Signed some autographs.
Were those your first big-ass tours?
Jesse Lortz: Oh, well—yeah. We’d only played like three shows before we went on that Fleet Foxes tour. We had to literally learn the songs on stage. I just play all the parts in the studio and then we just learn them after, so it was kind of weird to be developing our sound or our stage show in front of hundreds or thousands of people.
Now that you have been touring a little more and playing bigger shows, are y’all able to make a living off this yet?
Jesse Lortz: Yeah—I mean, it’s not carrying us, but it’s definitely supplementing. With record sales and touring and playing shows around town and shit, it’s definitely putting some food on the table.
I heard you recently had a baby.
Jesse Lortz: Yeah. He’s four months old. His name is Oscar.
Kristen said you named him after Oscar from Gris Gris.
Jesse Lortz: Yeah.
How is having a family now? Is that going to affect your touring schedule at all?
Jesse Lortz: Not really. It’s kind of my job. If I had a 9-to-5 job I’d be gone everyday, but this way I’m only gone a couple weeks at a time. So it works a little better this way, I think. My wife would probably disagree with me, but she’s not here.
Has that affected your songwriting at all? That’s a huge change in life.
Jesse Lortz: Yeah. With the second record it was all about that pressure—to be fuckin’ Dad or husband or whatever, and it actually kind of cracked me a little bit. I didn’t really know how I’m going to do it. It’s scary. And I’m also figuring out how to do it while I’m playing these songs, while I’m in front of a bunch of people being scrutinized. And not like we’re super-famous or super-big or anything like that, but there is a level of scrutiny that comes with being a performer.
Absolutely. There’s a lot of pressure when everything you do is being looked at. I’ve been listening to the new album a lot. I think it’s awesome. I love the strings on it. It even sounds like there’s more country stuff in it too. Do you get weirded out when people describe you guys as a folk band?
Jesse Lortz: I don’t really care how people describe us. Everybody’s gotta put a label on everything. So whatever you think it is, then that’s what it is. If you think it’s folk or country folk or campfire punk or whatever. You can say whatever you want.
It reminds me of kind of like Satanic folk.
Jesse Lortz: Charlie Manson sort of stuff.
Yeah, or just that idea. Prettier than Charlie’s stuff. Do y’all have any connection at all to that folk scene that’s coming up?
Jesse Lortz: Not at all.
You recorded the new album with Greg Ashley in San Francisco. How did that come about?
Jesse Lortz: We knew we had to do a record and we wanted to do it with him just because the Gris Gris shit sounds so awesome and he has his studio and you can smoke in there and he’s pretty cheap and he’s a friend. And a lot of it was getting out of the city and doing a different kind of record.
Was it just you and Kimberly doing all that? Because there’s a lot of instruments on the record. Did Greg play with y’all at all?
Jesse Lortz: Yeah. He played piano and then I did all the guitars. Oscar did some bass, Greg did some bass. We all just changed it up—whoever happened to be there at the time and wanted to play. It was awesome.
Gris Gris is one of my favorites. They’re over now aren’t they?
Jesse Lortz: No, they’re playing out. They played at the Great American a couple weeks ago. In November and also December, he’s going to do a West Coast and Midwest tour with us. He’s going to open, and then he and Oscar’s going to be our backing band.
Is this the longest any of your bands has ever lasted?
Jesse Lortz: Yeah. Two albums. Three 7”. This is definitely the longest I’ve ever been in a band.
Is it just because you enjoy it more?
Jesse Lortz: Yeah—because it’s real. I’m not trying to regurgitate someone else’s shit. I’m regurgitating my own shit.
Since you guys are getting bigger, what do you think about licensing songs to anyone? Like if some company asked y’all to use one of their songs—if you didn’t write the song for them?
Jesse Lortz: I don’t fucking care. I mean, I’ve got a kid to feed. We got bills. Once it’s written and it’s out there, I’m kind of done with it. It’s more of a relief just writing it, and then once it’s out there, if I can make money off it … like we had a song on “Entourage.” I think that show is horrible, but I don’t care. They paid us to use it, and they wanted to use our song. They have a good musical director, and a lot of people heard it and a lot of people bought the record because of it. But if it’s like McDonald’s … nah, actually I’d take McDonald’s money, too. I don’t fucking care. It’s just money.
That’s how I feel. If you’re not writing a jingle for something, why does it matter if you’re taking a corporation’s money?
Jesse Lortz: Totally, and I think that our generation and our crowd has gotten to the point where we’re all a little older now, and you can’t fucking holler ‘Sellout!’ just because someone’s making money off their music. This is how we make money.
I think you get past the point of screaming about that after high school or your early twenties because you realize that everybody has to make a living. You wouldn’t call someone a sellout because they got a promotion at their job. And none of us see too much money from record sales anymore, so you kind of have to supplement your income because nobody’s buying records like they used to.
Jesse Lortz: True. You just got to tour and tour and tour.
Do you still enjoy touring?
Jesse Lortz: Yeah! I love touring. I love it more now than I ever have because I’m in a place where I’m a little more pleasant than I used to be, so I make friends instead of, ‘Oh, there’s that asshole Jesse!’
I’ve never toured with just one other person.
Jesse Lortz: It’s awesome. We get along really well, so we can just sit. There’s times when we’ll sit in the car for three, four hours in total silence with no music and no talking, and it doesn’t get uncomfortable or weird or anything. It’s just relaxing. You don’t have to be ‘normal,’ if that makes any sense. You don’t have to make conversation or entertaining or anything like that. You can just be you and shut the fuck up for a change.
How’d you guys hook up with Hardly Art?
Jesse Lortz: They liked our single and they called us in and were like, ‘Hey, we want to do an album.’ And we were like, ‘Okay, give us some money.’ And then they gave us some money and I wrote a bunch of songs.
So they signed you with just a single recorded?
Jesse Lortz: Yeah, we hadn’t even played any shows. They’re really friendly and supportive and cool. We’re actually supposed to be up there right now—celebrating and drinking mimosas.

THE DUTCHESS AND THE DUKE WITH GREG ASHLEY ON WED., NOV. 11, AT SPACELAND, 1717 SILVERLAKE BLVD., SILVER LAKE. 8:30 PM / $8-$10 / 21+. CLUBSPACELAND.COM. AND WITH GREG ASHLEY AND THE HEAPS ON FRI., NOV. 13, AT THE CROSS-CULTURAL CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORIA AT IRVINE, IRVINE. 8 PM / $7 / ALL AGES. ACROBATICSEVERYDAY.COM. THE DUTCHESS AND THE DUKE’S SUNSET/SUNRISE IS OUT NOW ON HARDLY ART. VISIT THE DUTCHESS AND THE DUKE AT MYSPACE.COM/THEDUTCHESSANDTHEDUKE.

Band quit ! Fuck them ! They are boring rich kids who can’t play for ahit anyways .. Say hello to your ugly and boring wifes opps I mean lifes guys suck it

http://twitter.com/jayreatard

Stream: Bare Wires “Runaway Heart”

(from Artificial Clouds out now on Tic Tac Totally)

Matt Melton is the mastermind behind Bare Wires, Snake Flower 2 and numerous other bands over the years. Originally from Memphis, this mustachioed madman—now based out of Oakland—has never wavered from his musical vision and remains prolific no matter what band name he’s playing under. He shot Jay Reatard’s most famous album cover and is wondering why people have to break everything they can. This interview by John Henry.

Are you still living at that house where they throw all the parties?
Matt Melton (guitar/vocals): I still live there. I basically converted it into my personal practice space—I ran a snake through the wall and made it into a recording studio. I use my room and the living room. We threw one the other night though and somebody broke my toilet. They broke it into pieces. I just didn’t know how it could even happen. There were chunks of porcelain. I was just baffled—it was a totally chill party. People can’t just wait to fuck your shit up. We’re trying to gear it more towards a more productive party place, but we’ll still throw down.
When you started Bare Wires, it was just you and a 4-track—is this three-piece band the next step in the process?
That first batch of stuff I put out it was just me doing some one-offs. I definitely get off working in the solo mode. You get something pretty cool when it’s just one man versus the recorder.
Are you still doing Snake Flower 2?
Yeah—we’re actually playing in Oakland at Ghost Town. I got it back together and I’m currently booking a tour. I have a really young kid who I found who just washed up—he’s 18. I came across this guy and got him playing bass, this guy named Tim who was in a band called Countless Others. I’m keeping Bare Wires as a three-piece and actually making Snake Flower 2 a four-piece—that way I can play rhythm guitar and have a lead dude that can put the icing on the top.
I always wanted to ask you why you called it Snake Flower 2.
I can’t remember how it came about exactly—I went on tour with it as Snake Flower and then kind of stupidly said, ‘Let’s put a “2” on there.’ The bandmates got at each others’ throats and just wanted to keep it rolling with the 2.
You just put out a full length with Tic Tac Totally for Bare Wires and also did a Snake Flower 2 record—are they putting out whatever you throw at them?
It’s kind of incestuous. He wants to put out another Snake Flower 2 7”. He’s selling the records so it works. With the new record, we whipped it together pretty fast—it was just me and that girl from the Time Flys. We just went in my room and did it really simple and fast and just sort of cranked it out. We definitely didn’t toil over it too much.
What about the VHS tape that comes with the release?
It’s pretty retarded. It’s probably the most worthless piece of video you could want. It’s basically us messing up at band practice and getting into fights and doing drugs. He released a chunk of them on white vinyl, so if you get the white vinyl it’s a package deal because it’s a white VHS. I have not even seen them yet.
How far are you going on tour?
We’re going to go down to L.A. and then pop into Mesa to play with Earthmen and Strangers and then Austin to play with Harlem and then down to New Orleans. You know, Matt Muscle or King Louie are going to try hook me up with something. I honestly don’t know who’s playing it but I’m sure it will be somebody affiliated with those guys. Then up to Memphis—I’m excited to be playing Memphis, we’re playing a couple shows with Useless Eaters then up to Chicago. I’m going to try and see if Matt from Tic Tac Totally really exists. Maybe he’s just a computer. I grew up in Memphis. I lived in New York for a year but then moved out to California. I always go to visit Gonerfest to see what’s going on—it’s my home base, you know? It’s weird when you move away from a place—maybe some people they think, ‘Oh, he’s too good for the place!’ I hope it’s not like that—but yeah, I’m curious and I hope to one day move back to the south.
Are you still doing photos?
I did the photo for Jay Reatard’s Blood Visions record and I did the photo for Hunx—the new 7-inch that Jay put out. I also wrote and recorded that too, which I didn’t get any credit for. I’m not upset, though. It’s the 7-inch that just came out—‘I Won’t Get Under You’ and ‘Tear Drops in My Telephone.’ I just recorded this band called Nectarine Pie that just popped up. I’ve been trying to find some people to collaborate with. I’ve been recording these bands in Oakland and trying to branch out a little bit and get into some better facilities. I’ve recorded Shannon and the Clams’ new album and a handful of other stuff. It feels like a lot of people are moving here—Oakland is like Brooklyn in 1997. Cheap rent, crime through the roof and young people moving in—and it’s getting gentrified. Downtown’s getting ridiculous.
Did you see any of the rioting from the transit police shooting in Oakland?
I’ve seen a couple crazy things going down in Oakland but I did not see the riot. I know what you’re talking about and I saw it on the news.
Got any other records coming out other than the new LP?
Jay Reatard’s putting out a new record which is pretty cool on Shattered Records. That label’s up and rolling. It was kind of laying in the gutter for a couple of years. He’s got a pretty cool wave of shit that’s about to come out. I guess he made a little bit of money and he’s ready to throw a few things out there, which is pretty cool. He put out that Hunx and I’m not sure but I think he’s putting out Box Elders. I saw them in Oakland not too long ago—they’re pretty cool. The Box Elders—you got to like them!

BARE WIRES WITH STATIC STATIC AND GUESTS TBA ON FRI., AUG. 21, AT THE NOMAD GALLERY, 1993 BLAKE AVE., ECHO PARK. CONTACT VENUE FOR TIME AND COVER / ALL AGES. NOMADLOSANGELES.COM. THE BARE WIRES’ ARTIFICIAL CLOUDS IS OUT NOW ON TIC TAC TOTALLY. VISIT BARE WIRES AT MYSPACE.COM/THEBAREWIRES.