Jason Drenik: Jack's Bar (LP)

Free MP3 download & GTRNR sticker

I first saw Jason Drenik play music at a gallery/boutique in Echo Park around the summer of 2000. He was calling himself ‘Roll with Jason’ at the time and was the opening act for a new wave two-piece group that most everyone had come to see (I can’t remember their name). Jason brought a “stand-up comedian” with him to do a quick five minute set. The guy totally bombed with lame off-color jokes and poor delivery which pretty much confused and annoyed the crowd. By the time Jason took over there was a weird, awkward energy in the air and I remember thinking, what the hell is up with this dude? For the next twenty minutes he ripped the place, barreling through songs like I’m So Angry, Hoboken Joe, and Jack’s Bar with a sarcastic growl and reckless indifference. There was even an attempt at a Grateful Dead song (couldn’t tell you which one) where he forgot the words and ended it with a clank and apology, something like, “Sorry about that, I liked it” (smattering of applause). After the show he was selling homemade cassettes for “two dollars or free” and I got one, along with his phone number. We pretended we would start a band together off and on for the next few months but it was not meant to be. I think both of us had more fun talking about it than actually trying to make it happen for real.

I never saw Jason’s Ohio band (Hairy Patt) but their CD was on the jukebox at a coffee shop I frequented (courtesy of his girlfriend who worked there) and it got the occasional play. It was mostly noisy and sardonic with plenty of banging and clanging but I remember the last song being quiet and haunting, barely a whisper. I really liked that one, it seemed oddly out of place but perfectly placed at the same time. I saw him play again about a year later at some bar in the Valley, I think it was called the Blue Saloon. The crowd was talking so loudly over the music I could barely hear, but there was one guy at the side of the small stage who yelled, “Pizza subs!” and I knew he was waiting to take a trip to Jack’s Bar with me. There was something about the song that made me smile. After the show I said hello and Jason gave me a CD called Rock Star Party. It was hilarious. I remember listening to it later that night and thinking, why the hell is OJ Simpson in this song before settling on, why the hell not?

Flash forward about ten years and I get an email from Jason out the blue. He moved out of town and we fell out of touch but he had some new songs to share. His brother sent him an older 8-track recorder with effects and it was a “hit machine” he said. There were some MP3s attached and he asked me to listen, if I had time of course. I listened alright and there it was again, that sarcastic growl and reckless indifference, only this time a little older and more cracked. Parade of drugs was the first one, followed by Hand in Hand, and then the warbling, low fidelity wall of sound in Soufflé. The songs sounded like Vic Chesnutt meets Frank Zappa with a little bit of a Zoogz Rift thrown in. There was a casual flow and looseness to them I really liked and the electronic bits were cool. The lyrics were still bent but maybe a bit darker, more forlorn. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry or both and that was the best part of it all.

Flash forward again to about a week ago and I get another email from Jason. It starts out, “Hey, long time no talk…” and now he tells me that a label is putting out some of his old material and is asking for a blurb - do I have time to put something together? Maybe share some history? Remember the gig in Echo Park? Well, I sure do and…here it is, the blurbiest blurb I could come up with. What else is there to say? Run don’t walk to get this record, you won’t regret it. Be the few, the proud, the uhhh… - Chris Thompson