Jay Reatard

Jay Reatard, real name James Lee Lindsey Jr, was born May 1, 1980 in Lilbourn, Missouri and died January 13, 2010 in Memphis, Tennessee. Lindsey began his career at 15 under The Reatards despite starting with only one member, and adopted an Oblivians-influenced moniker, going by Jay Reatard.

Inspired by The Oblivians after seeing them as the opening act for a Rocket From The Crypt show, Lindsey began recording his own tapes and sent one to Goner Records, owned by Eric Friedl, former Oblivians member. Friedl was impressed by Lindsey’s recordings and signed him to his label.

This brought to the world the ever-popular Teenage Hate (1998, reissued 2011) as well their second studio album Grown Up, Fucked Up (1999) with plenty of singles, EPs, and demos in between.

In 1999, the Reatards toured the west coast and Europe before briefly disbanding; as Lindsey was focusing more on Lost Sounds. While in Lost Sounds, Lindsey and Trout formed a second band called “Nervous Patterns” which housed all of the Lost Sounds-like recordings that they felt “didn’t fit the Lost Sounds sound”.

2001 saw the birth of Final Solutions. Jay played drums and produced for Final Solutions with Zac Ives for vocals, Justic Naczycz on guitar, and Tommy Trouble on bass. In 2001 Jay also formed one-off band Bad Times with Eric Oblivian/Friedl and King Louie Bankston.

In 2005, Lindsey and his then-girlfriend Alix Brown (The Lids), formed Shattered Records, an independent record label. Shattered Records was home to a number of releases for lo-fi punk and rock bands. The pair formed Angry Angles and released three 7" vinyl EP’s plus a split single in the period 2005-2006 before disbanding.

In 2004-2006 Jay and Alicja joined Destruction Unit, created by Ryan Rousseau. Jay and Alicja appeared on 3 albums, and despite them leaving the band, it is still going strong with a new lineup.

With Lost Sounds (1999) coming to an end in 2005, Lindsey reformed The Reatards and released their third and final studio album, Not Fucked Enough on Empty Records. The Reatards and Lost Sounds unfortunately came to a final conclusion in 2006 as Lindsey started his solo career, still under the name “Jay Reatard”.

Blood Visions (2006) was in the works as the end of the Lost Sounds was nearing, and is full of the classic hate heard in so many Reatards songs. In Thrasher Magazine, Lindsey states: “I recorded it at the band’s studio that we had together…someone took it… So I had to 
re-record the whole thing. So there’s 
actually another entirely different version 
of the record out there.” While technically a debut– blood-covered Jay Reatard on the cover is meant to signify his birth as a solo artist.

Terror Visions, another project of Jay’s, started sometime around 2007. Jay also formed a very brief black metal band in 2007 with Rob Evil called “Winter Coffin”. Only one track was ever released and it can be found on Jay’s blog.

In 2007, Lindsey put Shattered Records on hold while working on his solo records. Then in 2009, Lindsey revived the label with the “Shattered Record Club” and announced his final solo album, Watch Me Fall (2009). Watch Me Fall is all about growing up and moving on. Lindsey was tired of this fast-paced rock-and-roll lifestyle and wanted to grow up while still remaining in control.

At the age of 29, on January 12, 2010, Lindsey died at his home in Memphis, Tennessee. The last recordings he made were demo tracks recorded on a cassette, You Get No Love / I Am Growing which were released posthumously.