Jay Reatard to spread Blood Visions on tour, singles

Allow us at Paste to introduce you to Jay Reatard. As you can see from the photo above, he's a real charmer.

One has to imagine that most of the little Reatard's formative years were spent in the crushing headlock of some schoolyard bully. That unfortunate surname must have earned him more than his fair share of abuse. But each insult and jab surely hardened him, toughened him, molded him into the punk-rock savior he is today. Even back then, he knew that his tormentors would live to regret their disrespect when he someday rocked their leering faces off.

OK, so Reatard was actually born Jay Lindsey. That the man would voluntarily adopt his present mantle, however, says a fair deal about his innate chutzpah. For those who haven't yet had the chance to hear this Memphis miscreant's punk squall, well, there's a MySpace page for that. As for everyone else, you already know why it's worth reporting that Reatard and his band are out on the road this spring. He's playing opener for the previously reported Black Keys tour, along with a few other scattered dates in Chicago, Australia and SXSW. Now on Matador Records, Reatard plans to drop a salvo of singles beginning in March. His 2006 effort, Blood Visions, was his first solo outing, but damned if he doesn't have a mess of past side projects to his name.

Dates:

February
22 - Chicago, Ill. @ Reggie's Rock Club

March
6 - Sydney, Australia @ The Annadale
7 - Melbourne, Australia @ E Brunswick Club
8 - Brisbane, Australia @ Club Phoenix
9 - Meredith, Australia @ Golden Plains Festival
10 - Melbourne, Australia @ The Tote
12-15 - Austin, Texas @ South By Southwest
27 - Tucson, Ariz. @ Rialto Theatre *
28 - Tempe, Ariz. @ Marquee Theatre *
29 - San Diego, Calif. @ House of Blues *
30 - Pomona, Calif. @ Glasshouse *

April
1 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Wiltern Theatre *
2 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Warfield Theatre *
4 - Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom *
5 - Seattle. Wash. @ Showbox SoDo *
6 - Vancouver, B.C. @ Commodore Ballroom *
9 - Denver, Colo. @ Ogden Theatre *
11 - Minneapolis, Minn. @ First Avenue *
12 - Chicago, Ill. @ Riviera Theatre *
13 - Indianapolis, Ind. @ The Vogue *
15 - Royal Oak, Mich. @ Royal Oak Music Theatre *