Jay Reatard's Former Backing Band Join Wavves

BY Josiah HughesPublished Nov 19, 2009

There's so much drama dripping off of this story, we just don't know where to begin. Let's see... back in October, Stephen Pope and Billy Hayes, the rhythm section of Jay Reatard's band, quit in the middle of the tour. Naturally, Reatard responded with a nasty Tweet, and bounced back with the rhythm section from Danish punkers Cola Freaks.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the U.S., Wavves' Nathan Williams has slowly been rebuilding his band after a rocky year. It all started after his meltdown at the Primavera Sound Festival in May, when his drummer quit the band. Williams rebuilt his project with some help from Hella's Zach Hill, and toured the U.S. On that tour, his long-standing feud with the Black Lips (who, by the way, are long-time friends and former label-mates of Reatard) turned physical, with a fight taking place in late September.

Now, these two chaotic, volatile worlds will collide, as Pitchfork has revealed that Reatard's former rhythm section have in fact joined Wavves. The band's label, Fat Possum, have confirmed the collaboration, and the video below is proof enough that Stephen Pope and Billy Hayes are now performing in Wavves.

Sit back in your chair for a minute, and think about the incredible brawl that will take place if Reatard and co. cross paths with this revamped Wavves. Hopefully by then, someone will have started an indie TMZ so we can watch the whole thing unfold.

UPDATE: If you're wondering why drummer Zach Hill is no longer playing with Wavves, here's what he has to say on his MySpace blog about it:

"so last week in los angeles at wavves practice i somehow mangled/broke/exploded my left hand while playing drums.it was immediately apparent that my injury was a little serious. after stopping practice i was unable to make a fist and my lacerations wouldnt stop bleeding. i visited a clinic and found i had two small fractures. one to the knuckles and one on my pointer finger plus some tweaked ligaments(unable to grip). this isnt a first for me but unfortunately the timing of its forced me to NOT be joining nate on the upcoming european wavves tour. bummer! the entire wavves tour will still go down as scheduled with some friends filling in and backing nate. they're gonna handle it! hit up the shows! on the upside i should be straight in the hands within a few weeks and will be spending this period working on the new marnie stern album and finishing up my next solo release etc,etc,etc!"


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