I asked Jad if I could set up a phone-interview with him in the next few weeks. "Well, no", he said, explaining he was leaving for Europe in a few days. But.... he could do the interview right then and there. Well, I couldn't pass that up even if I didn't have questions prepared. Jason went to get some coffee and joined us later, backstage, during a sound check. The lines below were the following conversation.

*****

Celeste Bernabo: Who wants to start?
Jason Willett: We have to be asked a question, don't we?
Jad Fair: Well, no, no we don't need to be.
Celeste Bernabo: Would you like to introduce yourselves first?
Jad Fair: Well, this gentleman's name is Jason Willett.
Jason Willett: And the gentleman who just introduced me Jad Fair.
CB: And I'm speaking to them prior to the April 10th show at Club Laga. Well, Jad, you have several albums that are coming out soon, could you tell us a little more about them?
JF: Well, there's a brand new album that I did with my brother David. It's called Monster Songs A Through Z, and it's songs for children. It's coming out on Kill Rock Stars. And we went through the alphabet, and we have a different song about a monster for each alphabet letter: Abominable Snowman, Bigfoot, Creature From the Black Lagoon, Dracula, E.T., Frankenstein, and on down. And also, let's see what else? There's a new album with Jason Willett which is called Twister, and that's out on Dark Beloved Cloud, and Jason's going to be releasing two other CDs very soon on his label Megaphone Records, and one is called ...
JW: We're Going To the Moon.
JF: ...We're Going To the Moon and the other one's called Wild. And I would imagine they should be out in five or six weeks from now.
JW...two.
JF: Or two weeks. And then there's the album I did with Naofumi Ishimaru called Half Alien and that came out on Sakura Records.
CB: And this album on Sakura Records ... is an American audience going to be able to get their hands on it at all?
JF: Well, I'm hoping that I can have a label in the U.S. release it as well, because so far, it is only a Japanese pressing, but there are labels that I've been talking to, and I think I will eventually be able to find a deal for it.
CB: And then you're going to have a release with Yo La Tengo on Matador, later in the year?
JF: It'll be October. Approximately. We have all the songs recorded, but we're still working on the cover design and some of the mixing, I think a few of the songs will be remixed. It'll take a while for us to get it out, because I'll be out of the country for a couple months and its kind of difficult for schedules to match up.
CB: And you did a little -- you did the art for the CD itself on I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One, and you're leaving in, what, four days, for a show? In Europe?
JF: I'm having two art exhibitions in Germany, one in Portugal, and about two weeks worth of shows -- music shows -- in the U.K. -- England and Scotland, plus a few music shows in Germany.
CB: And there's also a show with all sorts of musicians with their art in Cincinnati?
JF: Yes, there's a gallery in Cincinnati, and it'll be going on for another week, I think, and it's musicians who are also artists. Daniel Johnston has some work in there, David Greenburger, Aggi Wright, from the band the Pastels, the band Tinklers have a couple paintings, and Mark Mainard, my brother David and myself.
JW: And Martha Coleburn.
JF: And Martha Coleburn, and the Dramatics.
CB: Alright, I just have this completely different question I thought of. Well, two days ago I was really lucky because I found a copy of Roll Out the Barrel on CD. ... For those of us who really look for them, you know, even when we go on the Internet and (whew) it's not available there, do you have any hints ... tips to digging things up as far as that's concerned?
JF: As far as Roll Out the Barrel, the Knitting Factory worked out a deal with Shimmy-Disc, and they're going to be releasing some of the back catalog of Shimmy-Disc. They've sent contracts to artists who have been on Shimmy-Disc. Some of them are deciding to sign, and others not. I did sign the contract, so, yes, Roll Out the Barrel will be coming out on Shimmy-Disc/Knitting Factory.
CB: That's great.

*****

JF: I have two books; one came out in Hamburg, Germany. It was for an art exhibition that I had over there. It was the people at Hand Lung Gallery. And also I have a book that came out in the U.K., in Brighton Beach, England, and the book is called Jackpot and it also contains a seven-inch record that Jason and I recorded together. The people that put out the book Jackpot are going to be releasing a book by me sometime this next year, and that's gonna come with a CD-ROM, but I don't know all the details yet.
JW: And I also have a record coming out called Something's Going On, and it's a compilation coming out on the British label Lyssies, and it should be coming out in about two months from now -- what's two months from now?
JF: Um.... May, June.
JW: June. And it has myself, and myself with Jad Fair, and bands I play in and produce, like the Can Openers, the John T.s, (laughing) the Attitude Robots, the Dramatics, the Pleasent Livers, and, um ... many, many other bands, people on it like Ruins, Chris Cuttler, and blah, blah, blah. It's a very good record, coming out in June.

*****

JF: I did an album with a band from Toronto, Phono-Comb, and Phono-Comb put together a video for one of the songs, "Haunted House", and that's been shown on the television up in Canada. It's just a very short one that Reid Diamond filmed, and it's rather funny; it's got a dummy in it, and he's singing the song. And we did a tour up in Canada, and when we got to one of the clubs, someone came up to me and said, "Oh, you're the band with the dummy." (laughing) At first I didn't know what they where talking about, but then I thought, "Well, yeah, I guess I am."
CB: Other than some live performance clips, do you yourself have any music videos that you try to put in circulation?
JF: Well, there's a few videos, filmed by Martha Coleburn. She did one on Half Japanese, one on -- well, a couple -- three different ones by Jason and myself -- or four?
JW: Four.
JF: Four. Four different ones, one of which will be coming out on a compilation that Kill Rock Stars is putting together.
JW: And they pretty much circulate in film festivals around the country.
JF: Right. Yes. (laughing)
CB: Do you ever have a newsletter, like a mailing list, anything like that, that you send out to fans?
JF: Well, I have in the past, but it was rather difficult for me to keep up with it, so I ... no, I don't do it now. It is something i would like to do in the future, but I just found my schedule was tight enough then, and it's just one more thing, and it was rather hard to keep up with.

*****

After Philly trio Stinking Lizavita left the stage, Jad and Jason brought their amps up. Jason twanged away on a big stretchy rubber band with a pickup as his bass, and Jad pounded out "Mississippi Mud" and Dan Johnston's "Casper the Friendly Ghost", but the show-stopper was "This Could Be the Night". He was giving it new rhymes, but then was deliberately refusing to rhyme with them -- I know it’s hard to explain, I guess you had to be there.

Afterward, I bought some Megaphone CD's off of Mr. Willett, and two singles (autographed!) for my brother and me. I told Jason that I thought the show was incredible, and even though I hadn't been sure what to expect, it was completely different that what I expected. He said that he hadn't known what to expect, either. They had been traveling with a drummer that he described as the reincarnation of Keith Moon, but were now doing shows sans-drums.

more about Jad Fair and Half Japanese