Jay Reatard's shining moment

Jay Reatard strikes a 'Shining'-like pose for the cover of his latest album, 'Watch Me Fall' (Credit: Reuben Cox)

Garage rock renegade Jay Reatard became an indie darling with his 2006 solo debut “Blood Visions.” Released on Matador Records (Cat Power, Sonic Youth), the disc marked a more mature, refined sound than Reatard (born Jay Lindsey) had unveiled with his previous bands, the Reatards and Lost Sounds, or on his innumerable side projects. Still irreverent and raucous but more focused than his past work, the disc zips along with post-punk glee.

This August, Matador releases Reatard’s solo follow-up, “Watch Me Fall.” The first single, “Ain’t Gonna Save Me,” is as gloomy as it is grabby; a nihilistic statement delivered with a sneer and set to irresistible, bouncy rhythms.

Metromix called Reatard at his home in Memphis, where the singer-songwriter was relaxing for a few days in between tours. The 29-year-old dropped numerous F-bombs in explaining that “Watch Me Fall” is fundamentally a meditation on self-destruction. In between unhealthy-sounding coughs and wicked cackles, Reatard also confessed to dropping 10 hits of acid in one sitting and identifying with Jack Nicholson’s maniacal villain in the Stanley Kubrick–helmed horror flick classic, “The Shining.”

I really dig the new single “Ain’t Gonna Save Me” It’s super catchy with an interesting lyric about despair that has a rather mysterious chorus. What exactly is it that “ain’t gonna save” the singer?
I suppose [laughs] I was watching a bunch of episodes of the show “Intervention” on A&E and thinking about all the people I know who are fucking bent on self-destruction. And how people can put as much effort as they want into trying to talk someone down or whatever but, fuck, nine out of 10 times, when people get on the ledge, they jump. It’s just about that, man. You can’t talk people down once they’re there.

So, the song is about the futility of trying to help someone once they’ve decided they’ve had too much?
Yeah, I mean, you got to talk to someone before they decide to make the final plunge. That is kind of what the whole record [“Watch Me Fall”] is about: This place in my life where, like, no one really wants to talk to you about what’s going on until it’s too late. And then they want to overcompensate and be very, very into wanting to help. But, y’know, once you go past that point, there’s no turning back. 

When writing the songs for “Watch Me Fall,” where were you at personally?
Well, I was going through this weird, crazy point where all these things were changing around me. All of a sudden the circle I ran in didn’t accept me anymore because people, ah, people, ever since I signed to Matador Records, there was a line drawn in the sand. It was like, OK, these people are upset because I’m doing something with my life they feel I shouldn’t be.

It sounds like your friends might have been envious of your success.
I was just confused about all that. About why I had a lot of people who had been along for the ride with me for so long got cold and turned their backs. But, it was more a process of me, while making the record, of convincing myself it was probably for the best. I had a lot of negative people in my life and I just fucking cleaned house.

On Matador’s Web site, you are quoted as saying that “Watch Me Fall” has been “challenging” because it is the first time you made a record for a label. What are some of the hardships you have to deal with this time around?
I’m very aware of the type of pressure I put on myself. I know how to deal with it. I know how to control it and to use it to my advantage. I haven’t really had lot of time to crawl inside the Matador guys’ heads and understand the type of pressure I would be receiving from the label. But in the end, I figured pressure is pressure, and I deal with pressure fine. Actually, I think it’s kind of necessary for my process.

So the pressure didn’t get to you?
I was fine as soon as I figured out that the pressure I thought the label was putting on me was just another version of the same pressure I always put on myself to just make a good record, the best record you can—and that’s that. I think I accomplished that.

The “Watch Me Fall” cover photo shows you looking like Jack Nicholson’s character in “The Shining,” when he’s chasing his wife and kid through the maze—trying to kill them. Are you a big fan of the film?
Yeah, yeah, for sure, man. I took like [laughs] 10 hits of acid and watched that film by accident—and fried my brain. I think that movie resonates with me a lot.

How’s that?
It has to do with the songs I was writing, and, y’know, it’s a record about self-destruction, basically. What’s more self-destructive than fucking going off the deep end and trying to kill your family because you have writer’s block? That’s kind of how I felt at some points with this record. Things just weren’t coming to me. I was irritable. I was fucking sitting in my room. Exchange a typewriter for a guitar and Jack Nicholson’s character was me. [Laughs]