Jay Reatard at Mercy Lounge

"Hey man, kill the fuckin' Indian buffet music!" And without waiting for his order to be carried out, Jay Reatard tore into the first of an estimated 13 song set that lasted maybe 20 minutes. While that might seem oddly short, it was actually rather appropriate, especially when you know that Reatard NEVER STOPPED PLAYING. With spit flying and head banging, Reatard played so ferociously that 20 minutes may as well have been two hours.

A high school drop-out, 27-year-old Reatard (born Jay Lindsay), got his start on Goner Records in Memphis, Tenn, and has been making his own brand of dirty garage rock, in one form or another, for the better part of 10 years. It's starting to pay off too, as Reatard made the cover of this month's Memphis Flyer, and Spin Magazine recently called Reatard the "Next Garage-Punk Prodigy."

Reatard's cocky attitude and face-crushing live performances have, in a way, already become legendary. Take the following video of his performance at Silver Dollar in Toronto on April 17 for example.



As gnarly (yes, gnarly) as that looks, it turns out Reatard had his reasons for being so pissed. Here's what he had to say about the whole ordeal.

Having seen and read all of this before the show, I was pretty pumped. As a matter of fact, I was kind of hoping to see someone get kicked in the face. Alas I had to settle for seeing the bass player catch a rogue loogie in the crotch from Reatard himself. That's not to say the show was in any way disappointing. Far to the contrary, Reatard's ball-busting no frills rock n' roll delivered the goods like a steaming hot pizza, in 30 minutes or less. I honestly couldn't tell you a damn song the guy played because for one, I wasn't too terribly familiar with Reatard's most recent album, Blood Visions, and also because I was so close to the stage that I couldn't hear the the PA over the brain-rattling thunder emanating from the amplifiers. This in no way prevented me (or anyone else, for that matter) from joining in the fist-pumping action. After 20 minutes, I was sufficiently rocked.