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Jad Fair


Jad Fair, Dick Johnson, Skinky - Nice'N'Sleazy, October 20th 1996 Bigwig Magazine


Skinky's skewed funk scratchings seethe and shift under Peter Rose's elliptical vocals which peck and gnaw at the fabric of bizarre relationships. From angular opener Call This? (propelled by frenetic brushwork from Boydy Crockett) to Her Brother~ pinched harmonics, Skinky display a tangible confidence as a slanted groove machine, riding restlessly on Matthew Lowe's fluid bass style. Last song tonight, the pounding, oppressive Torrents- is featured on their current single (a Flotsam and Jetsam '45 split with ~he Space Kittens). Check it out.

Dick Johnson, a bass-free female three-piece, play subverted rockabilly surf music that suggests the Cramps combing Cruiser's Creek for a low-rent beach party movie location. Armed with chrome-plated'whammy bars and a tight line in trash anthems, they end with a tribute to one of their favourite bands, braying I Wanna Fuck the Make-Up (a thrashy Gary Glitterstomp) like evil cheerleaders.

Jad Fair resembles an ultra-geek Randy Newman in a lurid Batman t-shirt. Having spent the best part of two decades lurking at the heart of American outsider-core, he's erratic on guitar and spacey of on-stage conversation. With an album currently out on Vesuvius (with brother David) Jad's backing band tonight is a Krautjock supergroup who provide a droning rhythmic drive. The Sleazy's crowd laps up every quirky drop - from a naked slaughter of All Shook Up through 1980's Frankenstein Must Die to moments of genuine luminosity, as in Turn Your Life Around, when honesty, vulner­ability and life-affirmation bring the Jad Fair experience closer to the soul.
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