Until now. A New Jersey label called T.E.C. Tones has recently reissued Half Gentlemen/Not Beasts in a two-CD, 133-minute package. Listening to HG/NB is truly a fascinating experience, despite (or perhaps because of) the passage of years. The Fair brothe rs alternate between atonal, cacophonous songs and inventive, minimalistic instrumental experiments. The more orthodox songs feature unfixed, primitive rhythms with guitars and percussion (drums, aluminum pots) as the primary noisemakers. The grating vocals of Jad and David fit perfectly with the clatter. The lyrics are largely stream-of-consciousness musings on nerdy preoccupations with "girls." While Jad's songs are naively fanciful, David's imply some actual contact with women. All are painfully humoro us, especially for male listeners. Rarely has innocent desire (for love more than sex) been expressed so nakedly. Jad's reedy vocals are a particular treat; perhaps no other singer in pop history has been able to combine passionate yearning with detached, cynical irony in the same syllable the way Jad does here (Jagger comes to mind, but, unlike Jad, his sex appeal gets in the way). There are also a number of covers included in the box set; songs by the Temptations, Velvet Underground, Buddy Holly and oth ers get turned inside out and rendered alluringly unrecognizable.
For me, however, the most exciting parts of Half Gentlemen/Not Beasts are the instrumentals scattered amongst the songs (sample titles: "TN TN TN TN KI," "RRRRRRRRRRRRR"). These are "experimental" in the most unpretentious sense of the word. Many are characterized by monotonous repetition (e.g. metronomic percussion), suggesting use of tape loops but in fact are actually played out, occasional deviations creating interesting patterns. Some of the instrumentals are fascinating noise collages with sounds such as typewriter clacking, static, electronic "eeps," and a mindlessly struck guitar string bouncing between channels. Others are not true instrumentals in that they feature nonsensical mutterings, cantorial gargling, desperate moaning, and other eclect ic uses of the human voice. Much of this is quite hypnotic and involving, like new age music for a post-apocalyptic era.
Soon after Half Gentlemen/Not Beasts was released, the Fair brothers began to integrate "real" musicians into the band (actually the live stuff on HG/NB does include a sax player and a drummer). Over the years, such noteworthy musicians as John Zorn, Fre d Frith, Moe Tucker, Don Fleming and Kramer have contributed to Half Japanese recordings. For a few years now David Fair has been an inactive member. These days Jad fronts a relatively conventional yet idiosyncratic Half Jap with a fairly stable nucleus of three other musicians. The band put on quite a show at Smokin' Joe's last month. Jad still hasn't learned to "play"; except for one song, his guitar served only as an unamplified prop. (Jeff Robins)

Interview by Todd Morman
SF! = Todd; J = Jad Fair
Transcription by Jeff Robins
SF! -- What do your kids think of your music?
J -- Well, my stepson Simon enjoys the band quite a bit. He's in a band called the Stinkypuffs - that's Simon, and Don Fleming on guitar. . .
SF! -- Wow. How old is Simon?
J -- He's eight.
SF! How old were you when you first started the band?
J -- I would've been twenty.
SF! -- What was the impetus that made you want to do the kind of music that you do?
J -- I always liked music and I started college and it seemed to be a fun thing to do.
SF! -- Did you have any training at all?
J -- No.
SF! -- Nothing? You just picked up a guitar?
J -- Yeah. I still don't know any chords.
SF! -- Do you like the Tinklers at all?
J -- I really love those guys. Charles and Chris are very nice people too.
SF! -- I've never seen them. They never come down here, actually.
J -- Well, they don't play out often. Charles just did a show with us a couple weeks ago but Chris was unable to come. We recorded an album with the Tinklers.
SF! -- Really? When was that?
J -- It would've been six years ago, but it hasn't been released.
SF! -- Who's got it? Who owns it?
J -- Well, I've got the tapes of it.
SF! -- So you're just waiting to release it?
J -- Yes.
SF! -- Who else do you like to listen to now?
J -- I like the Pastels. I like Melody Dog. Some Velvet Sidewalk. Beat Happening. Sleepyhead.
SF! -- How many albums do you sell? Like, your last one?
J -- My guess would be that it's sold about five or six thousand now.
SF! -- That's pretty good for a small label like that.
J -- Well, it's on Safehouse over here and Paperhouse overseas, so that's both labels combined.
SF! -- Do you sell more in Europe or America?
J -- From album to album it differs. Overseas I sell more of the "avant-garde" type of LP, which doesn't sell very well for me here. Best Wishes sold very few copies over here and sold quite well over there. Great Expectations I think sold a bi t better for me overseas.
SF! -- Are you going to do another album with anyone else, like you did with Daniel Johnston and with Kramer?
J -- I think I'm going to do some recording with Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. We're trying to get into the studio in April. I've done two EPs with the Pastels and I'm hoping to do some more recording with them. I would like to do some more recording with Steve Fisk. I recorded with him a couple years ago and I still have some work to do on that. And also with Calvin Johnson.
SF! -- I would love to see that.
J -- I did some recording with Calvin a year ago and nothing's ever come of that.
SF! -- You're touring with the Breeders and Nirvana.
J -- Tomorrow's going to be the first day.
SF! -- Where?
J -- Williamsburg.
SF! -- Are you excited about that? How many people are you going to be playing for?
J -- There will be about 10,000 people.
SF! -- Have you ever played for that large a crowd before?
J -- No. I've played for audiences of like 2,000. But this is quite a bit more than that.
SF! -- How does that change the dynamic of what you do? Does it matter how many people are out there?
J -- I don't know that I'm even going to be aware of it, because so often the spotlights are in your eyes and you can't see past the first or second row.
SF! -- How did you get hooked up with that tour?
J -- Nirvana's people called up my booking agent and set it up.
SF! -- That's nice of them anyway. . . The movie that was made about Half Japanese, "The Band That Would Be King," has that been released yet?
J -- It had a two-week showing up in New York at the Film Forum. And starting in February or March it should be playing in different cities around the U.S.
SF! -- What's the response been so far? The movie is a documentary but I've heard that it really idolizes you. I would say deservedly so, but how does that feel?
J -- I was real pleased with it. When Jeff Feuerzeig, the film's director, got in contact with me I thought he was talking about just a short film. I had seen a film he did on John [unintelligible] which was about 25 minutes long and I thought he was wanting to do the same thing this time.
SF! -- But it turned out to be longer and more in-depth? Does it portray you the way you want to be portrayed?
J -- Pretty much. I mean, my only complaints with it are that I think, "Well maybe I should've worn a different shirt that day." Minor things like that.
SF! -- Are you making a living off your music?
J -- I can support myself but it's just because I'm putting out so many records. I put out five or six albums a year. If I were to just put out one album a year, there's no way I could do it.
SF! -- How do you recoup the costs of those albums?
J -- The record companies give me advances.
SF! -- What bothers you most about the music business? What would you like to see changed?
J -- It would be good if bands could tour in the U.S. and make a living at it.
SF! -- That's harder to do here than overseas?
J -- Oh yeah. I can make a lot more money overseas.
SF! -- Why is that? You'd think the expense of traveling would be so much more there. It's not?
J -- It is more expensive over there but a tour would make much more money. Some of it is because of government subsidies to venues.
SF! -- So there would actually be a club that caters mostly to, say, a rock audience that would have government subsidies?
J -- So you can play at a club and even if the club makes no money that night you still get paid. Over here you just don't have that.
SF! -- Anything else you can think of about the music industry?
J -- It's so difficult to get money beyond the initial advance from record companies. A lot of that has to do with distributors that they work with. That can be a pain.
SF! -- And that's just accepted as given, right? Everyone just says that's the way it is.
J -- Yeah.
SF! -- What would you say to someone who was in a band and interested in putting stuff out themselves?
J -- If they don't mind losing money, then go ahead. But I think that chances are you're going to lose money. Because even if the record sells, unless you have strong backing behind you, you cannot collect money as well as sell product. Half t he job is selling the record in the first place and the other half is collecting on the copies that have been sold. You need both parts.
SF! -- You put out your own stuff for awhile, didn't you?
J -- Oh, for awhile.
SF! -- Then you hooked up with 50 Skidillion?
J -- Well, first it was Armageddon Records, and then Press Records, Iridescence . . .
SF! -- What were the benefits to you of signing with a label like Iridescence? Is it that they would give you an advance and you wouldn't have to worry about collecting anything?
J -- Well, they gave us an advance and it also sounded interesting to me that they would be releasing so many of our records at one time. In one release season they released four different albums by us. Two Half Japanese records, one solo album by myself, and then one album that I did with some other musicians.
SF! -- Tell me what goes through your head when you're trying to write songs. Who are you trying to reach? Do you write for an audience?
J -- No, I don't think I do write for an audience. When I write songs I write them really fast. There've been times I've written like six or seven songs in one morning. Most of the songs on Music To Strip By were written on the train ride from D.C. to New York. So there's not any real deep thought to it. It's quicker than that.
SF! -- Do you think that taps into something subconscious?
J -- I suppose that probably does.
SF! -- That's funny because the lines in so many of the songs seem like throwaways and yet they're funny and ironic and there are these little nuggets of meaning that you just toss out. I'm thinking of "Penny in the Fountain." It's so simple, just a simple little song, but it's great; there's a lot to it.
J -- Actually I didn't write any words to that album [Charmed Life] ahead of time. We just recorded it.
SF! -- So you recorded the tracks and then you just spoke over it? Or did you just do it all at once?
J -- The whole thing all at one time.
SF! -- It was one take? Every song on there?
J -- Well, "Penny in the Fountain" was like a second take I think. But it's not one we had practiced before.
SF! -- So you've been doing this for how long now?
J -- It's been like 19 years, I think.
SF! -- What do you do when you're not writing songs and taking care of your stepson?
J -- I do a lot of artwork and I'm starting to do some work with a label called T.E.C. Tones out of Hoboken, just collating and stuff.
SF! -- What sort of plans do you have? Would you be content with just continuing to put out records for the next ten years or is there anything else that you'd like to do that you're not doing now?
J -- Well, I would like to have more time for the artwork, because I've pretty much pushed that to the side to do the music.
SF! -- Have you had any gallery shows or anything like that?
J -- I've been in a couple of group showings and then I had a showing at a store in Hoboken called Handmade. I think I will be having a showing over at ___[?] later this year or early next year.
SF! -- And you do most of your own album art too?
J -- I do quite a bit of it and my brother David does a lot also.
SF! -- Any artists that you like in particular, that you feel do similar things to what you do? Your drawings are very simple, child- like drawings. I mean, I'm thinking of Paul Klee or someone like that.
J -- Yes, I like his work quite a bit. I do like Gary Panter and David [Sandlin?] There's a lot. Matisse is one of my favorite painters.
SF! -- Do you see what you're doing as having any sort of politics at all? Is there an implied politics or is it just you do what you do and the politics just flows from that?
J -- I don't know that there's really any political . . . (pause)
SF! -- Content or intention? You don't go into it with a political frame of mind?
J -- Yeah, I just don't go into it.
SF! -- So to you the music is not . . . Is there anything implied? I mean, do you see a political implication in what you do?
J -- No, I really don't.
SF! -- You shy away from that kind of stuff?
J -- I mean there may be some social things here and there, but political I don't think so.
SF! -- What kind of social things? What's implied?
J -- . . . . . .
SF! -- Well, come on, I mean what kind of a world are you implying? You're creating something, you're putting out a vision of a world. Can you articulate that at all?
J -- It's just a bunch of stories and stuff. I don't know that I'm trying to shape anything at all.
SF! -- Okay. How do you feel about NAFTA?
J -- I think it's a good thing. I mean, it may not be an immediate good thing. I think it's going to be difficult for probably the first four or five years, but over the course of ten years I bet it's going to turn into a good thing.
SF! -- Thank you.
JThank you.
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