Plan 9 From Outer Space Dog of Wisdom Fan Art
Off-white, balanced, with horse Scout (Photo by Sandy Carson)
On a slate-colored Sun afternoon in January, a expressionless domestic dog lies in the tall grass under a street sign. Upon closer examination, its mottled orangish and black fur makes it resemble something less, well, canine. Further test reveals that it'southward indeed a expressionless domestic dog and non some sort of errant chupacabra or mythical Texas dog-animate being. A gang of vultures lingers, some flapping their wings every bit if shrugging, "Eh, we'll get to it."
Of course, this is the street that leads to Jad Off-white'south house.
A spherical silver roof is the only thing visible from where the vultures sit and gossip. Information technology looks similar a UFO direct out of Plan ix From Outer Infinite has landed in the middle of farm state. Which is wildly appropriate if you know Jad Off-white'due south work. Many don't. Jad Fair isn't exactly a household name.
Here on the outskirts of Estate, where he'due south lived for a year and a half, Fair isn't recognized at the Exxon station, nor maybe even in Austin. The 53-year-one-time musician and artist lives here with his wife, Patty, their dogs, and a stable of horses. His trademark round, black glasses are gone thanks to LASIK surgery, and his chin-length pilus is gray and wavy, making him expect a little like Robert Plant.
Several of his folk art paper cuts, a new batch of which is now on display at Thousand Dog on South Congress, line the walls and shelves of his house. A large wooden cabinet holds miniature tin robots also as assorted alien and monster figurines, and a framed impress of Daniel Johnston's famous "Hi, How Are You?" frog-lien greets us at the front door.
Illustration by Jad Fair
Living in the sticks hasn't macerated Fair's flair for the odd; really, it just makes his "outsider artist" tag more literal. His careerlong fascination with monsters, aliens, and other outsiders fuels his music and art and carries over to the custom-congenital cylindrical firm he lives in, which overlooks miles of pasture and a slightly battered mansion to the east. "Someone bought information technology on eBay," Fair explains.
Equally co-founder of the rock group Half Japanese with his brother, David, Fair's music hasn't been either conventional or immensely profitable. Their shambolic racket arose from Michigan in the mid-1970s and and then slouched toward Maryland, blending free jazz and loose improv with songs largely about love and monsters, spewed from a soft spot for the Mod Lovers and the Velvet Underground. The group launched Fair'due south career into constant projection, whether art, music, or a dizzying assortment of collaborations.
His virtually recent endeavor is with Japanese racket artist Naofumi Ishimaru, whom Off-white met in the 1990s while touring Japan. Their musical coupling yielded mutant albums Half Robot and Half Alien. The third arm of the collaboration, a 45-song animal fittingly titled Half Monster, is finally issued on local experimental label Misc. Music this month.
Austin Chronicle: Did you move out here to focus on art or music or both?
Jad Fair: I practise bask staying at domicile, and then the art became more my focus. The only fashion to make money is to play live, which I still do, but I've cut way back.
Air-conditioning: So the album that'south coming out now, how did you meet Nao –
JF: What I'm doing now?
AC: Yeah, no ... with Nao, the stuff you did with Nao ...
JF: Oh! Naofumi. Well, he started using my artwork on his CDs and tapes, and we eventually started corresponding, and when I toured Japan, I asked if he would do those shows with me. So he came to America and to my business firm, and we recorded an album. Then I went to Japan to his house, and nosotros recorded two albums. We were working 10-hour days, and one mean solar day, towards the end when nosotros were mixing, I told him I was kind of tired and was probably going to go to bed, and he chosen me a lazy American!
Certainly not. So far, Off-white'south teamed up with a who's who of underground and indie artists: R. Stevie Moore, Teenage Fanclub, Maureen Tucker, the Pastels, Sonic Youth'due south Steve Shelley, Kramer, John Zorn, Yo La Tengo. Last summertime at Emo's, Jad Fair opened for the Danielson Famile, a immature band whose quirky popular – and specially vocaliser Daniel Smith's squeaky vocalization – seems a half-breed of Half Japanese. Off-white's currently working on an album with Smith, he and brother David have another album coming out soon, and he's recording with Norman Blake of Scots Teenage Fanclub and Isobel Sollenberger of Philly drone rockers Bardo Pond.
Information technology's Fair's recordings with boyfriend singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston that appeared especially predestined. Jagjaguwar reissued 1989 lo-fi pairing Information technology'southward Spooky in 2001, and it's truly a meeting of the minds. Monsters and love songs, subjects dear to both artists, get equal treatment, along with "I Did Acid With Caroline," "McDonald'south on the Brain," and "I Met Roky Erickson." Johnston and Fair later worked together as the Lucky Sperms, whose Somewhat Humorous also received the reissue treatment from Jagjaguwar.
Ac: You're a big fan of collaboration.
JF: Artistically, yep, and I'm friends with so many of the people I've collaborated with. Yo La Tengo – they were my neighbors when I was living in Hoboken. I've been very lucky to interact with people I really adore.
AC: Who'south someone you'd like to collaborate with?
JF: I'm a large fan of Steve Earle.
AC: What practise y'all like nearly him?
JF: Steve'due south a nifty musician, and I like that he stands up for what he feels is correct, and he's willing to take risks. He could easily stick to one fashion of music and exist successful, [but] I call up information technology'southward great that he shows as much range equally he does. Steve'due south a smart guy. He knows full well that some of his choices musically and politically are not in the direction of the dollar sign, but he nevertheless does it.
AC: Exercise you notwithstanding talk to Daniel Johnston?
JF: You know, not as much as I used to. I run into him every once in a while. I retrieve we're going to exercise a split single that'll exist on [Misc. Music], with Danny & the Nightmares.
Ac: What'south recording with him similar?
JF: The first time around, we did so much in, I think it was something like vii days, mixing and everything, then we kept actually decorated, and Daniel had very decided mood swings. When things would start going southward, I would advise that we would become out and get a pizza, and that would be fine.
Air conditioning: Everything would become back to normal?
JF: [Laughs.] Well, he'd go dorsum to existence Daniel. He's so talented, I left it up to him to choose the direction of the album, just when that direction was ane I didn't experience comfy with, it was pizza fourth dimension.
AC: Did you and Daniel both run into Roky Erickson?
JF: Daniel wrote the lyrics of that song; he used to go to Roky's home to watch monster movies. I've met Roky a few times. Information technology's great that he's playing music once more. He'south in fine form.
AC: The same managing director who did the Half Japanese documentary, Jeff Feuerzeig, besides did Daniel'due south. What did you think of information technology?
JF: I thought it was very well done, and such an undertaking. I was surprised there was so much video and sound to become along with pretty much any story there was.
Air conditioning: And at that place'due south a story nearly you and Daniel.
JF: Aye, they had but done a bunch of renovations on the Statue of Freedom, and then everything was prissy and new, and when we were walking up the spiral staircase to the top, Daniel was behind me, so I couldn't see what he was doing. He had a marker and was drawing fish on the wall all the mode up and downward. Quite a chip of graffiti past Daniel, which would now be worth quite a scrap of money. The police force didn't come across it that style.
New Brides of Frankenstein
Jad (50) and David in the sleeping room, 1978
Photo courtesy of Jad Fair
Fair was born and raised in the pocket-size town of Coldwater, Mich., where he says his babyhood had "skillful parts." He and his brother, David, two years older, got forth well enough to form One-half Japanese in 1974 while in higher, with Jad on drums and David on guitar, neither especially skilled. Their arroyo to playing is outlined in David's widely circulated essay, "How to Play Guitar," reiterating that yeah, anyone can. To wit: "If you ignore the chords your options are infinite and you lot tin can master guitar playing in i day."
Jeff Feuerzeig'south great 1993 documentary, Half Japanese: The Band That Would Exist King, is a snapshot not only of the band but of the underground cassette and record culture they inhabited. It's filled with deadpan hyperbole and ringing testimonials, so much then that it often comes off like a Christopher Guest film.
The Off-white brothers' humor has e'er been subtle, as illustrated in 1 of Feuerzeig's interviews: David, hulking and bespectacled, stands slightly to the left of Jad, wiry and also bespectacled, like a family unit photo. He explains that 1980's ½ Gentlemen/Not Beasts was originally titled One-half Gentlemen/One-half Animal, but they changed it because "We're nice guys." They were similar a male person version of the Shaggs, impervious to technical skills or noesis of chords and quite self-possessed.
Illsutration by Jad Fair
AC: Growing upward, did you and David have similar tastes in music?
JF: David had a proficient record collection, so I was listening to the Stooges, Captain Beefheart, MC5, the Velvet Underground, a lot of bands that weren't popular in the boondocks I lived. I was very lucky I had my brother to buy records.
AC: What was it similar growing up in Michigan?
JF: I ... I'm glad to exist abroad from information technology. You lot don't realize how bad a place is until y'all're gone, though.
AC: In a small town like that, did you feel the urge to do something to stand out?
JF: I was very aware that I stood out. Everyone around me made me aware that I stood out.
Jad and David moved to Uniontown, Doc., in 1975, and that's where Half Japanese began playing out and somewhen solidified their classic lineup – one that will play Southward by Southwest this twelvemonth – including guitarist Mark Jickling and brothers Ricky and John Dreyfuss, on drums and sax respectively. 1977 saw the release of their Calling All Girls 7-inch on friend and fan (and wizard) Penn Jillette'due south 50 Skidillion Watts label, which he started solely to release Half Japanese records.
Jad in his chemical element, historic period 4
Photo courtesy of Jad Fair
In 1980, the UK-based Armageddon Records offered them an unprecedented three-record box-ready deal. By 1981'southward Loud LP and 1982'southward monster-themed Horrible EP, they had channeled their noise into an atonal, primal smack of fractured feedback and free-jazz sax, helmed by Fair's desperate yelps.
On "I Know How It Feels ... Bad," one of Half Jap'south archetype honey songs, Fair pines with the self-assured half-smirk of his colleague Jonathan Richman: "I recall about yous. Yous're already in dearest, I know ... I wouldn't want yous to break up because of me." Fair airs his revenge fantasies on the ambling "Dumb Animals," where he takes several of his high school teachers to task, and "High School This evening," where he dreams of trashing the principal's office. On "Thing With a Hook," Fair squeals, "At that place's a thing with a hook, pulling heads off girlfriends! Down on lover's lane!" over a Stooges-inspired squall. Drag Urban center reissued the 29-vocal collection Loud and Horrible in 2004, an splendid overview of this nascent, gnarly era of Half Japanese.
Live, they must have looked similar they were from another planet. The Band That Would Exist King includes footage of the grouping playing "Live in Hell" on a cablevision admission testify in 1985. Fair stumbles, twists, and roughs upward his guitar, the total opposite of his reserved nature. Guitarist and longtime collaborator Don Fleming adds the appropriate noise to the white-hot set, filmed in forepart of a green screen with images of hellish things floating around and featuring an inspired cover of "Y'all're Gonna Miss Me," alternately titled "You're Going to Regret My Departure." Through it all, Jad Fair smiles like this is the nigh fun he'due south ever had.
AC: Did you feel Half Japanese was doing something different?
JF: Yeah, but that seemed normal to me. That's when it dawned on me that my definition of normal is not everybody'south.
AC: What's the monster connection?
JF: Well, as a kid I always enjoyed monster movies. On weekends I would go to sleep very early on because I knew I would want to wake up a few hours later, effectually midnight, when all the monster flicks would come up on.
AC: What was the attraction? Your monsters don't seem likewise scary.
JF: No, they just seemed cool to me.
Ac: I noticed your collection of robots and aliens over there. I approximate the robots are aliens?
JF: Right, I doubt any of them are from this planet.
Destroy All Monsters
This bulletin can be plant on his website: "I Jad Fair pledge to uphold the highest quality standards in my work, and never waver in my quest to push the envelope in both art and music, and to heighten the bar of musical excellence to new heights. On that you have my word. Should I fall short of that goal I promise to shave my head and vesture my wearing apparel inside out for at to the lowest degree v years time."
His recent piece of work has shifted more toward his artwork and paper cuts, something at which he's quite prolific and something he began doing to convalesce the boredom and headaches related to reading in the van on tour. Latest book Blue Skies and Monsters is filled with eyeball-twitching, scissor-cut creatures slightly menacing and oddly mesmerizing. It's been 14 years since he worked a solar day job, Fair's able to sustain himself through a combination of art and music. He takes a workhorse approach to his arts and crafts.
AC: What's this mission statement about? Have you had to shave your caput?
JF: No, I haven't. Webster'due south Dictionary defines a man dynamo equally a highly energetic and indefatigable person. That pretty much sums me up. In that location accept been times when I've felt like taking a break, but I know if I did, I would permit my fans downward, and in that location's no way in hell I'd ever practice that.
AC: Practise you feel you've matured as you've gotten older?
JF: Very piffling about me has matured.
AC: How so?
JF: Well, I get the straightest, simplest direction, and there's not that much thought process. It'due south a very childlike approach.
AC: Does songwriting feel like a compulsion for you?
JF: Compulsion is the exact word for it. At times I feel a scrap like Horatio Caine on the show CSI Miami. He has a compulsion for fighting crime. I, too, have a compulsion. I feel compelled to practice my part in making the world a better place in which to live.
Air conditioning: For $300, you lot'll write a personalized song for anybody.
JF: I've done quite a few birthday songs, songs for weddings. I did i wedlock proposal, which was kind of odd, merely she said yes. And I've done several songs almost baby births. I tell them, please mention anything you lot want in the vocal, so I go into it knowing they want me to say something about Uncle Joe or whatever.
Air-conditioning: What's the strangest you lot've had to do?
JF: I did a birthday vocal for a guy, and the girlfriend wanted me to mention that he enjoys smoking meat.
Ac: Smoked meats?
JF: Aye. Non normally something I would put in a vocal.
Air-conditioning: Do you lot feel like you know how to play guitar now?
JF: When I was offset picking up guitar, I paid more attending to what it looked similar than what it sounded like. I would see Pete Townshend do the windmill arm thing, and I idea that's cool, that'south how y'all play guitar. That stuck with me more than learning chords.
Peel Slowly and See
"What is that?" a companion asked i dark late last May as we stood outside of Mohawk. A familiar voice – well, more similar a midrange screech – wafted from the inside phase. Investigating, nosotros realized information technology was Jad Fair, playing his middle out solo, gray hair obscuring his face. We both squinted to make sure information technology was him. It was the vocalism that gave him away – having cleared the room – but retrieve that you've got to pay more attending to what it looks like than what information technology sounds like.
"One-half Japanese played a show in Deutschland, and this guy comes over and says he wants an anthology," Fair relates. "I say, 'Well, we have these Jad Off-white albums, then we also have these Half Japanese albums.' He says he wants Half Japanese, that he hates Jad Fair. So he buys the One-half Japanese album, then asks me to sign it."
"Was he embarrassed?"
"Oh, yep."
Half Japanese Selected Discography
1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts (Armageddon, 1980)
Loud (Armageddon, 1981)
Horrible (Printing, 1982)
Charmed Life (50 Skidillion Watts, 1988)
The Band That Would Exist Rex (50 Skidillion Watts, 1989)
Fire in the Sky (Safe Firm, 1993)
Loud and Horrible (Drag City, 2004)
Jad Fair Selected Discography
Jad Fair & Kramer, Curlicue Out the Butt (Shimmy-Disc, 1988)
Jad Fair & Daniel Johnston (50 Skidillion Watts, 1989)
Jad & Nao, Half Robot (Paperhouse/Sakura Wrechord, 1993)
Jad & Nao, Half Alien (Sakura Wrechord, 1997)
Jad Off-white & Yo La Tengo, Strange only True (Matador, 1998)
26 Monster Songs for Children (Kill Rock Stars, 1998)
Jad Fair & R. Stevie Moore, FairMoore (Old Gilt, 2002)
Jad Fair & Teenage Fanclub, Words of Wisdom & Hope (Alternative Tentacles, 2002)
Bibliography
The Attack of Everything (Slab-o-Concrete, 2000)
Blue Skies and Monsters (Map, 2006)
Source: https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2008-01-25/584314/
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