THE BLANK GENERATION: Howdy stranger: J is for Jonathan Fire*Eater

Howdy stranger: J is for Jonathan Fire*Eater

Jonathan Fire*Eater's EP The Public Hanging of a Movie Star (pictured above) is located on the shelf between The Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy and Smashed Blocked! by John's Children.

If you're hipper than most, you can say that you were there first, when the last great band from NYC to feature an asterisk in their name was packing 'em in at dingy NYC venues. I can't make that claim, myself, even though I hopped on the JFE bandwagon long before they signed to Dreamworks and quickly had their tires slashed. I remember buying this CD--well actually the seven inch (I later bought the CD as it had an extra song on it)--from East Peoria Co-Op without really having any clue who in the fuck Jonathan Fire*Eater was. I soon found out, however.

I gobbled up this release--the band's first--and their subsequent EP, Tremble Under the Boom Lights, before losing interest in the group prior to them actually "making it big" on the indie circuit. I did have the pleasure of catching them in concert. My friend booked them in an attic show--the perfect foil to the typical basement gig--in Peoria in the middle of the summer. It was hot as hell up there, and the band had to lug their equipment up three flights of stairs. Five songs into their set, the cops showed up in response to noise complaints and broke the show up. My friend lost his shirt on the affair, but JFE was cool enough to take what meager amount of money he could offer--which was significantly under their guarantee--and a place to crash for the night. That left quite an impression on me.

Apparently, it left quite an impression on the band, too. Some six years later, when I spoke to them in their new incarnation (The Walkmen), they remembered the gig and said they had just discussed it that day as they drove past Peoria en route to Chicago. JFE pale in comparison to The Walkmen, partly due to the superior frontman abilities of Hamilton Leithauser, who replaced JFE singer Stewart Lupton when The Walkmen formed. In addition, JFE sound more like imitators, happy to be good with the gimmick but hardly a fully-realized musical outfit. Still, I remember these days fondly.

At least two things have remained a constant since that attic show in Peoria. One, organist Walter Martin (now in The Walkmen) still has that killer farfisa with the black and white keys. And Two, I've still got a thing for pale-faced, lanky white kids who wish they had a bit of Mick Jagger in them.

JFE, "When Prince was a Kid"
JFE, "The Public Hanging of a Movie Star"

This is long out of print, but you can buy it here if you've got a wad of cash burning a hole in your pocket.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 28 at 7:34 PM.