Tag: Jesse James Davis

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Music Video Monday: “Maria” by The Tennessee Screamers

The trio of Keith Cooper, Frank McLallen, and Graham Winchester have been playing together since high school. They rock as The Sheiks, they’ve backed up Jack Oblivian, and, with the addition of Jesse James Davis, they play both kinds of music — country and western — as the Tennessee Screamers.

“Maria” was written by McLallen and recorded at Sun Studios by Crockett Hall, with Eric Lewis guesting on pedal steel.

Davis (who is often mistaken for Memphis Flyer editor Jesse Davis, and vice versa) directed this music video in 2021. “Almost a year ago, we invaded the drive-in to make a music video,” says Davis. “I finally finished it after a busy year back gettin’ educated at U of M. A lot of thanks to throw out on this one: Leanna Carey for shooting some vid on the river one fine spring day; cameos from Michael Jasud, Linton and Grace; thanks to Laurel and Charles for letting us shoot at the Lamplighter”

Cooper says, “The city of Memphis once again proved to be a fine palette for the various locations needed to be shot. From the muddy banks of the Mississippi to the commode that Jasud’s ass rested upon at the Malco Drive-In.”

The lo-fi video drama sees McLellan being chased by Cooper and Winchester, presumably for eating beans and stealing the affections of the titular Maria. “I am glad I can use my position as editor of the Memphis Flyer to promote my own work,” says Davis*.

If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.

*Jesse James Davis, musician, comedian, and filmmaker, not Jesse Davis, musician and editor of the Memphis Flyer. I know. It’s complicated.

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Film Features Film/TV

Music Video Monday: “Secret Lover” by Yesse Yavis

Yesse Yavis

Music Video Monday is just between us.

Jesse James Davis is not the editor of the Memphis Flyer. That’s the other Jesse Davis (hi boss!). Jesse James Davis is a singular singer, guitarist, drummer, and all-around musician who has played with the likes of Jack Oblivian, The Sheiks, The Tennessee Screamers, Model Zero, and my own band, 1000 Lights. Yesse Yavis (Bandcamp link) is the name he uses for his solo act, where he dispenses songs that veer from four-on-the-floor garage punk to poppy love songs.

The instrumental tracks that would become the song “Secret Lover” was recorded in 2017, and finished later with the addition of The New Mood Basement Singers. “The whole idea for these Yesse Yavis songs was inspired by Sam Cooke’s Live at Harlem Square Club record,” he said. “The atmosphere on that album is just complete joy, and has the energy of the greatest house party of all time. I wanted to make music that evoked that same energy and took from that well of doo-wop, ’60s ‘girl groups’ like The Shirelles, The Ronettes, or The Shangri-Las, and pure party music of the late ’50s/early ’60s. The lyrics aren’t really important, the sound and the vibe are what’s on display here. It’s just a simple love song about someone sick of being just a secret side piece and wanting to be a full time lover, not a Secret Lover.”

Last year, the pandemic gave Davis a chance to learn video production and create the 40-minute Yesse Yavis Extravaganza Spectacular Record Release Show, a mix of comedy and live performances taped at B-Side in Midtown. I promise you will not be disappointed with either element. Davis also directed and edited “Secret Lover,” so prepare for liftoff — you don’t have to be the side piece no more.

If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: The Sheiks

Music Video Monday wishes you happy freakin’ holidays!

The operative word is “freak” with The Sheiks. The boffo Bluff City combo usually plays a “Christmas in Space” show about this time every year, but with the damn pandemic messing up the program, they’ve opted for a video greeting card to the rock-deprived masses. It’s called “Everybody’s Merry,” and it goes places you might not have wanted to go — namely, into the void with spaceboy (and director) Jesse James Davis. Hop on Astro-Santa’s lap for the most deranged three and a half minutes of the holiday season—and in 2020, that’s really saying something.

Music Video Monday: The Sheiks

If you’d like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com. Happy holidays, and stay safe everyone! 

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Music Music Blog

The Two Faces of Jesse Davis

Two musicians named “Jesse Davis” live in Memphis. They both have their own bands. They’re also DJs on separate radio stations. Only one Jesse Davis, though, is releasing a new single November 20th.

Jesse James Davis points to a framed portrait of Robert Ford, who shot and killed the outlaw Jesse James.

They have their own personas, both on social media and in real life. “Jesse James Davis,” 32, is in Yesse Yavis, Model Zero, and 1,000 Lights. “Jesse James is an outlaw,” he says.


“The Other Jesse Davis,” 33, who plays in Terry Prince & the Principles and The Conspiracy Theory, is a Memphis Flyer and Memphis magazine staff member. His middle name is “Aaron,” which, he points out, is Elvis’ middle name.

The Other Jesse Davis, via the most confusing Zoom interview of all time


One Jesse Davis is bearded and the other isn’t. “He’s me with the evil goatee,” Jesse James says.


“I would say I look like Jesse, but with exceptional hair,” Jesse Aaron says.


“And poor eyesight,” Jesse James says. They both wear glasses, but his are “special computer screen glasses,” Jesse James says. “He’s only wearing those because he thinks they make him look cool,” Jesse Aaron says. “My glasses were prescribed by a doctor.”


“These are prescribed,” Jesse James says.

Jesse James Davis shows off his stylish shades.


Discovering there were two “Jesse Davises,” Jesse Aaron says, “was kind of a dawning realization. I kept on being tagged on things online I had not done. Sometimes I would go into Memphis Pizza Cafe and order a pizza and they would say, ‘Oh, you’re Jesse Davis,’” Jesse Aaron continues. “But then they would say, ‘Wait. No. You don’t look like who I think you look like.’”

Michael Donahue


They met at a restaurant, Jesse James says. “A mutual friend introduced us: ‘Jesse Davis, meet Jesse Davis.’ It was much like meeting your doppelgänger in the Black Lodge on Twin Peaks,” Jesse James continues.


Or “like an episode of Star Trek where Spock is doubled,” Jesse Aaron adds.


They “hit it off,” says Jesse Aaron, meaning it was “hand-to-hand mortal combat.”


“I’ve been saying this for years: ‘This town isn’t big enough for both of us,’” Jesse James says.


Recalling when the Principles and Yesse Yavis played at his birthday party, Jesse Aaron says, “I was so excited. I was like, ‘We’re playing a show and Jesse Davis is playing it.’ I think people just thought that I was speaking about myself in the third person.”


“I work at the Memphis Flyer,” Jesse James says/lies. “I’m now the editor. I write about music and books.”


He also says he is a DJ on WEVL, which is where Jesse Aaron works. Jesse James is actually on WYXR.

The Other Jesse Davis, having an identity crisis


“Would you be friends with somebody who’s trying to steal your identity on the Dark Web?” Jesse Aaron asks.


Jesse James is coming out with an hour-long variety show, The Yesse Yavis Extravaganza Spectacular Record Release Show, on November 20th, which will stream online. “It’s got skits and interviews and goofs and on-the-street coverage. And the music, of course.”


His 7” single on Misspent Records that coincides with the show includes “Never Let My Love Fall Down” and “Deep Blue Sea.” The latter is about “being your true self and not making things up and being true to who you are.”


“Oh, my God,” Jesse Aaron interjects. “And Hitler’s new single is about peace, love, and understanding. I’m just flabbergasted right now.”


Asked what he was working on, Jesse Aaron says, “I’m working on controlling my temper mostly.”


“You really need to calm down,” Jesse James says. “This whole interview you’ve seemed to be on edge.”

The Other Jesse Davis

“I want to be friends,” Jesse Aaron says. “I can’t be friends with me. When he’s trying to be me, it hurts.”


“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Jesse James says, deadpan.


Musically, the Principles are working on “a sci-fi time-travel song,” Jesse Aaron says. “It’s about a post-apocalyptic band, how they have to play on skulls and stones with sticks instead of drums.”

Jesse James Davis knows who he is.


For the record, Jesse James and Jesse Aaron aren’t the only two people in Memphis sharing the same name. “There’s another person named ‘Jessie Davis’ who works at a Mapco around here,” Jesse James says.


While buying beer at Mapco, he noticed the name tag and told the cashier they shared the same name. “She wasn’t amused.”


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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Music Video Monday: 1000 Lights

1000 Lights began in 2018 as a band on a mission: recreate the Stooges’ Fun House for a Halloween party at Black Lodge Video. And they assembled an all-star cast to do, starting with Flyer film editor Chris McCoy (Super Witch, Pisshorse) on bass, and Russ Thompson (The Margins, Static Bombs, Pisshorse) on drums. To this solid rhythm section they added Joey Killingsworth (Joecephus & the George Jonestown Massacre, Super Witch) on guitar, and, in a masterstroke, Jesse James Davis (Yesse Yavis, Model Zero, The Tennessee Screamers) on vocals. Davis was the perfect fit for the manic, yet devious, rock ‘n’ roll energy exuded by Iggy Pop in the classic Detroit band, being no stranger to stripping off his shirt and gyrating with abandon.

And yet, though 1000 Lights channeled Fun House beautifully, their own personalities came more to fore as they pursued original material. Shedding their tribute-band origins, they emerged as something closer to The Damned with echoes of Tin Machine: Both more frenetic and more atmospheric than the Stooges, depending on their mood, but always bringing the reliable riffs.

The capstone of this was their show at the Crosstown Theater in 2019. As McCoy explains, “Last year, 1000 Lights was asked to be a part of Crosstown Arts’ silent film live scoring series. We chose to do Häxan, the 1922 film by director Benjamin Christensen that is both a documentary about the witch hunts of the Middle Ages and a precursor of the modern horror film. We incorporated our existing songs into the score, and wrote a lot of new material to go along with the film. Justin Thompson and Dawn Hopkins recorded the show, and we took the tapes to Dik LeDoux for mixing and mastering. We took the best parts from the 104 minutes of the live score and created an album which we’re releasing on Bandcamp this week. We couldn’t be more pleased with the results. It doesn’t sound like a live album at all, despite the fact that it was recorded in front of a large audience.”

Today, the world gets its first taste of Häxan, the album on Bandcamp, with this, the first video spawned by the project. Davis steers clear of any obvious Iggy-isms, creating his own Southern take on the more panicked sounds of punk. He is hurtling toward the Bluff City from a devilish distance, perhaps about to slam the city from above like a meteor? The frantic apprehension is captured beautifully by McCoy’s wife, director Laura Jean Hocking. “We shot at Black Lodge,” McCoy notes, “using projection art she created and the big screens they have in their theater. Then she incorporated images from Häxan into the final video.”

Says Hocking, “I wanted to portray Jesse as if he was a denizen of Andy Warhol’s Factory. Jesse has a dynamic, androgynously sexy stage presence and I used it to convey the punk urgency of the song. The layered images and projection give it a fever dream meets Exploding Plastic Inevitable sense, like Jesse is fighting the Devil with rock & roll.”

Music Video Monday: 1000 Lights

1000 Lights celebrate the release of Häxan with a live-streamed concert at Black Lodge, Halloween night, October 31, 9 p.m.

If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com

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Music Music Blog

Gonerfest 16 Recap: Friday

Violet Archaea at Gonerfest Friday night.

It’s Saturday morning of Gonerfest, and I have a headache. And I’m not the only one. Folks from all over the world are cursing the bright, fall sun of Memphis the morning after an overstuffed night of punk, garage, no-wave, and the indescribable.

And too much beer. Did I mention the beer? Memphis Made brewed a special Gonerbrau cream ale, and it only comes in tall boys for your beer-spraying convenience.

After a full afternoon at Memphis Made with Static Static, Lenguas Largas, Fuck, Graham Winchester, Kelley Anderson, and Tyler Keith, Goners reconvened at Crosstown Arts auxiliary gallery at 430 Cleveland. Miss Pussycat, Quintron’s partner and celebrated artist and puppeteer who recently got a fellowship and retrospective at the Ogden Museum in her native New Orleans, performed her puppet show “The History of Egypt” to as packed a house as it is possible to have. After Antony was defeated at the Battle of Actium, and Cleopatra got fatally intimate with an asp, Miss Pussycat added a post script set in the holy Egyptian city of Memphis detailing the founding of Goner Records and the Mummies playing Gonerfest. Later, Goner co-owner Zac Ives confirmed that this was the first time he had ever been portrayed in puppet form.

Miss Pussycat presenting her ‘History of Egypt’ puppet show, featuring Guitar Wolf as it segued into a ‘History of Gonerfest’.

(I was unable to confirm with Eric Friedl if he had ever been represented via puppetry before that evening.)

Miss Pussycat’s art on display at Crosstown Arts 430 Gallery

In years past, the golden passes have consistently sold out, but individual tickets could still be had if you got to the venue early. This year, Friday and Saturday sold out weeks ago.

“It’s like Mecca, almost. Everyone comes together,” says Megs from Louisville, who is here with her friends Yoko and Aaron.

This is Megs’ second Gonerfest, Yoko’s third, and Aaron’s fifth. They say they’re here primarily to see the Oblivians reunite with Quintron to play their watershed 1997 album Oblivians Play 9 songs with Mr. Quintron. The descriptively titled album is the best Memphis rock record since Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers. Its reputation has grown in the 22 years since the January 1997 afternoon when Quintron rode the bus up from New Orleans and recorded the album with Greg, Eric, and Jack in one eight-hour session. It sits in an unlikely pocket of lo-fi, punk, and gospel, and the songs have been rarely performed by the full band. “It’s my favorite album,” says Megs.

“I’m ready to go to church tonight,” says Yoko.

Sarah Danger of Mallwalker

At 9 p.m. sharp, Mallwalker from Baltimore, Maryland, gave the evening a swift kick in the ass. Singer Sarah Danger, who would act as the MC for the evening, reserved some special vitriol for the anonymous person who accidentally broke her foot during the band’s 4 a.m. after-show last year. Afterwards, I talk to her as she’s rehydrating at the bar about the band’s big stage debut. “It was fucking amazing while I was up there, but it was horrible beforehand because it was so nerve-wracking!.”

This is Danger’s eighth Gonerfest. “One of my favorite ones was when Guitar Wolf played the opening ceremony. I had never seen that kind of energy. It was so sick.”

The second set of the evening was Richard Papiercuts et Les Inspecteurs. The New Yorker crooned like a hyped-up Brian Ferry. It was an ’80s-infused dance party, with the evening’s only saxophone, and an example of how the sounds at Gonerfest have expanded and diversified over the years.

At 10:30 p.m. was the legendary M.O.T.O. Paul Caporino’s low-fi, pop-rock machine mesmerized the crowd. The peak of the set came with “Tastes Just Like A Milkshake,” a Memphis favorite covered by Secret Service.

Innez Tulloch and Matthew Ford of Brisbane, Australia’s Thigh Master with Memphis singer Jesse James Davis. Blurriness courtesy Gonerbrau Vision (TM).

Brisbane, Australia’s Thigh Master had the distinction of throwing their record release party at Gonerfest. Now For Example is out on the label as of yesterday, and they celebrated in style, joined at one point by Memphis’ Jesse James Davis on vocals.
At the stroke of Midnight came NOTS, a Gonerfest staple, sounding as fierce as ever. Now playing as a three piece after the exit of keyboardist Alexandra Eastburn, Natalie Hoffman did double duty on guitar and synth, while Charlotte Watson and Meredith Lones pounded out titanic rhythm behind her.

NOTS

People on the floor jockeyed for position as the back stage curtains parted to reveal Quintron’s massive vintage Leslie speaker. Violet Archaea was wearing a “Kill A Punk For Rock and Roll” shirt, famously featured on the cover of the Oblivians album Popular Favorites. “This is my first one, but I’ve been wanting to come since I was of age,” she says. “It’s everything I want.”

Her band The Archeas would be playing the super-late night after-party, but she was in no hurry. “2 a.m., 3 a.m. It will be an a.m.”

The Oblivians playing nine songs with Quintron

When Greg Oblivian began the circular riff of “Feel All Right,” the packed Hi-Tone surged forward. Seconds later, the first thrown beer of the night nailed him right in the face. It couldn’t have been more accurately aimed if it was actually aimed. This served to piss him off, and for a glorious hour or so, the snarling, rock-hard Oblivians of old were back. The gospel songs played by punks with a lot more miles on ‘em than in 1997 revealed new depth as they rattled down the road like an old truck about to shake apart. “Before this time another year/I may be gone/In some lonesome graveyard/Oh Lord, how long?”

They encored with the New Orleans zydeco stomper “Call the Police” from their Desperation album, and then Greg decided to teach the band a new song right there on stage at the Hi Tone in front of a packed house at 2 a.m., just to make sure the crowd got that vintage Oblivians experience.

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1000 Lights: Zen and the Art of Stooges Covers

There’s only one band in Memphis, and everyone is in it. The truth in that old pearl was underlined by last Saturday’s tribute to Dr. John’s Gris-Gris, a party that ended at Cooper-Young’s Bar DKDC — after the musicians took the revels to the street. The performers included members of Marcella & Her Lovers, the Sheiks, and, yes, Memphis’ new alternative goth-rock band, 1000 Lights. The historically amorphous lineups of Memphis bands is of note because 1000 Lights is something of a Bluff City supergroup itself. The band will release its debut album, 3NC EP, on Forbidden Place Records this Friday, August 16th, at B-Side.

The lineup includes Jesse James Davis (Yesse Yavis, Model Zero) on vocals, Joey Killingsworth (Joecephus & the George Jonestown Massacre, Super Witch) on guitar, Flyer film editor Chris McCoy (Super Witch, Pisshorse) on bass, and drummer Russ Thompson (The Margins, Static Bombs, Pisshorse).

1000 Lights: (l to r) McCoy, Thompson, Davis, and Killingsworth

“I just love Russ. There’s a lot of good drummers in town, and I think he’s the best rock drummer in town,” says McCoy of his longtime bandmate. The two go way back. Back in their days in Pisshorse, they used to share bills with the Oblivians and the Grifters. “We were one of the first bands to play Black Lodge,” McCoy adds.

Pisshorse played a set of Black Sabbath covers at Barrister’s, a now-shuttered venue in Downtown Memphis, which secured the band an invitation to perform a “secret set” at the infamous “Hell on Earth” Halloween party series. They decided to cover The Stooges’ Fun House. Unfortunately, they never got to play that night. “The cops came when people started setting off smoke bombs,” McCoy says. “So we never got to play. And I was always bitter about that.”

So when a recently broken-up Super Witch was invited to play Black Lodge’s Halloween celebration, McCoy saw his opportunity to play Fun House, at last. Of course, McCoy and Thompson would make up the rhythm section, because “there’s something about a rhythm section that’s been together for a really long time,” McCoy says. “You get a telepathic relationship.” To handle guitar duties, McCoy and Thompson tapped Killingsworth from Super Witch. All that remained? “We needed someone who could be Iggy,” he says.

The then-trio wanted arguably one of the best front-persons in Memphis. “I met Jesse James Davis at that Bowie [tribute] show,” McCoy explains, further adding to the mosaic of musical influences that helped inform 1000 Lights. Memphis songwriter Graham Winchester put on a David Bowie tribute concert in 2016 to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and McCoy and Davis both performed. “Everybody was good that night, but Jesse just blew me away.” Who better to be the band’s Iggy than someone who had already played Bowie?

They planned to play the Halloween show and, if everyone felt good about it, pursue the band as a full-time project. “We walked off stage at that Black Lodge show,” McCoy says, “and Jesse turned to me and said, ‘Let’s do it!'”

“The name 1000 Lights comes from a line in ‘Down on the Street,’ the Stooges song,” McCoy says. So the band set about crafting its sound, influenced by their roots but branching out to cultivate music based on their varied tastes. Killingsworth “wanted to do something really gothy,” McCoy says. “He’s really into Bauhaus and he loves Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.”

There is a darkness and a sense of drama to 3NC EP, recorded at Move the Air Audio, but there are also shades of punk, post-punk, and early alternative music.

The first two tracks, “Shark Tooth” and “Exile Your Life,” open the album with a grit-your-teeth, Stooges-like momentum, but as the record plays, the band lets the songs spool out a little longer. “Isolation Line” has an opening rhythm that recalls Joy Division’s “The Sound of Music.” The multifaceted structure of the songs speaks to the collaborative nature of the project — and the songwriting chops on display. Memphis’ newest supergroup, 1000 Lights, burns brightly. 1000 Lights record release with Alyssa Moore and Glorious Abhor is Friday, August 16th, at B-Side, 9 p.m.