Half Japanese: Sing No Evil --- Ink Blot Magazine

Half Japanese: Sing No Evil

at a glance...

Hometown: Maryland
Formed: 1976

Members:
Jad Fair -vocals and guitar
David Fair -percussion, backing vocals
Mark Jickling -guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals
John Dreyfuss -saxophone
Richie LaBrie -drums
Howard Wuelfing -bass guitar
Don Fleming, Rebby Sharp - guitars
Jay Spiegel, Pippin Barnett -drums
Paul Watson -trumpet
Lisa Mednick -electric piano
Margie Moreman -backing vocals

Bands in the family :
Mosquito, Jad Fair, Daniel Johnston, DQE, Jason Willet, Gilles Rieder

Notes:
Half Japanese was founded by brothers Jad and David Fair in their parent's home in 1976. When they started neither could play an instrument; in the subsequent twenty-two years Jad has led countless line-ups of the band, which still generally prizes amateur enthusiasm over professionalism, and has sung hundreds of songs about monsters, women, and good luck. David left the band to be a family man sometime during the 1980s, but they still collaborate on the occasional song. In 1995 Half Japanese was the subject of the documentary film "The Band Who Would Be King."

Half Japanese
Sing No Evil
Drag City, Released 1984

Sing No Evil is the blueprint from which all subsequent Half Japanese albums (at least, all the good ones) have been built. Take some simple, catchy songs that reek of unhealthy arrested development, light their tails with relentless drum tattoos, and begrime their surfaces with uncouth guitar protestations. Have eternal teenaged geek Jad Fair mouth their lyrics in a desperate, dizzy whine, shake 'em up with a loose, enthusiastic ensemble whose solid chops put Jad's primitivism over the top, and you've got rock 'n' roll the way it ought to be and rarely is.

Some of these songs still show up in Half Japanese concerts -- "Firecracker Firecracker" and "Nicole Told Me" are immortal codifications of adolescent sexual obsession and guilt. But they're hardly the only riches on this embarrassingly wealthy platter. Brother David Fair's "Rub Every Muscle" and "Acupuncture" combine fist-pumping anthemic riffs with, um, fist-pumping libidinous lyrics. The horn-dappled title instrumental will make you dance til your pants fall around your ankles. And anyone who ever claimed that Eric Clapton sings the blues should be strapped to the electric chair and have their brain fried by Jad's terrifying screams on "Ball and Chain."

If you like this album check out:
Half Japanese Our Solar System
Half Japanese Heaven Sent
Jad Fair and Yo La Tengo Strange But True

-- Bill Meyer

Ink Blot Home
about | archives | contact | links