Scottish heroes the Jesus And Mary Chain are one of the greatest alt-rock bands of all time, and they helped establish a very particular type of rock guitar — a feedback-drenched wounded-romantic blare that has inspired a great many imitators and iterators. Jim and William Reid, the two brothers at the heart of the band, have some strong opinions about rock guitar — opinions like shoegaze "doesn't actually exist" and Eddie Van Halen "ruined rock guitar."
This past weekend, the JAMC and fellow underground legends Dinosaur Jr. headlined the New York festival Total Bummer. Before they took the stage, the Reid brothers sat down with Stereogum VJ Winter, an artist who doesn't hesitate to use the word "shoegaze" to describe her own music. When Winter asked them about the new wave of rock bands being influenced by shoegaze, Jim Reid said, "Shoegaze, I've got a problem with that just because it doesn't actually exist. 'Cause it was some clown at the NME made that up." (He does admit that the JAMC, along with some of the other bands who got hit with the label back then, were sometimes "awkward" onstage.)
Jim Reid also described his own guitar style and the importance of making music instinctively:
Not having a lot of equipment actually forces you to be more inventive. I can play guitar, but only just. It's kinda deliberate. I play guitar to the level that I need to play guitar. And sometimes knowing too much about making music gets in the way, and it ends up back to Eddie Van Halen again, do you know what I mean?
At this point, William Reid chipped in:
I think guitar players should never learn scales. I think the worst guitar players in the world — like Eddie Van Halen. I can't stand Eddie Van Halen's guitar playing. I think he ruined rock guitar all through the '80s and '90s 'cause so many people copied him. And I just couldn't get any of that playin' as fast as you fuckin' can and crammin' as many notes in one second as you could. And I listen to Peter Hook's bass riffs, and I think that's a thousand times better than anything Eddie Van Halen could ever conjure up.
It's perfectly possible to love both Van Halen and the Jesus And Mary Chain, but there's something comforting in knowing that the JAMC brothers still resent a late guitar hero whose style had nothing to do with their own. Here's a clip from JAMC's Total Bummer set, which truly does not sound like Van Halen:
The previous weekend, the JAMC brought out Smerz to help sing the classic "Just Like Honey" in Chicago.
Winter talked to a bunch of other fans and rock guitar bands at Total Bummer. More videos are on the way, but here she is talking to Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis, a famously chatty interview subject, and to julie.
