MP3: Jay Reatard – It Ain’t Gonna Save Me
MP3: The Black Hollies – Gloomy Monday Morning
MP3: Bryan Scary and the ShreddingTears – (It’s A) Gambler’s Whirl

Pels ikke bjørnen før den er skudt. Or, don’t skin the bear before it’s been shot. That seems to be exactly what Jay Reatard’s old band members tried to do when they walked out on him in October. (But then again, that’s punk music, right?) Inconvenient timing (due to them being on tour at the time) seems to be the only downside from this situation as Danish band Cola Freaks are now officially on board the lo-fi garage punk project and have been trucking through Europe with him since. This seems to be a win-win situation, as he is finally visiting Columbus again (Sunday night at the Summit), now with a kick-ass European punch and seemingly quite happy about the new additions. He spent 10 days in October recording in the Freaks’ hometown of Aarhus and has gone on the record about it, saying, “It sounds exactly the way I wanted these songs to sound like live when I wrote them.” (Cue proverbial twisting of knife.) It’s a good time to be Danish, as Jay and the band will also be opening for The Pixies on their Doolittle tour that kicks off this weekend in Chicago. Oh, and now Reatard’s former rhythm section is apparently joining up with Wavves.

Reatard video and info on the Columbus openers after the jump. (more…)

Matt Whitehurst’s interview with the Washington Post music blog is pretty much required reading. During the course of the interview, Matt rails against music journalism, the industry, Wavves, Vivian Girls and other targets while being asked to buy cigarettes for underage girls and smoking joints with some dude.

Highlight:

We made “Wavves Suxx” t-shirts with it spelled S-U-X-X. We got tons of people taking pictures with us in those. People are all into it. And actually Wavves came up to our drummer and our drummer had no idea it was Wavves. And Wavves took like six pictures with Rich with the “Wavves Suxx” t-shirt on. So, you know, that little [expletive]’s probably into it or something. And is probably like, Oh, it’s like hip-hop, man!

Just about every response is a highlight, so you’re better off just reading the whole thing. It’s also fun to count how many times the writer had to take out the profanity.

PREVIOUSLY: Donewaiting.com Psychedelic Horseshit Interview by Wes Flexner

We’re starting to get a lot of official showcases announced by the bands/organizations putting them together… This is usually a sign that the final list of bands/full music schedule will be released soon.

• Gorilla Vs Bear has announced Gorilla Vs Booze III, featuring Vivian Girls, Wavves, more. (Remember the internet when there weren’t 500 daily references to Wavves? A Distant memory..)

• After the Jump Festival announced both official and unofficial shows
• KCRW’s official showcase features Ida Maria, School of Seven Bells, more
• Asthmatic Kitty, K Records, and Tomlab are joining forces for a big show.
• My Old Kentucky Blog is doing an official showcase. They’ve got The Grates, Viva Voce, Delta Spirit, and more.