Missing J Church
November 9, 2008
This is a song from one of my favorite records. It’s a split that J Church released with Discount, two of the best pop punk bands squished into seven magical inches. “Faye Wong” is classic J Church, the love and respect of a fringe-pop culture icon, like “Why I Liked Bikini Kill” and “Jennifer Jason Leigh”, songs that feel like crushes but are also really, really positive for women. It’s better than hugs.
J Church frontman Lance Hahn died just over a year ago on October 21, 2007. I’d been listening for awhile, but it seems like every time I start to piece together a show, I find more music that he was somehow involved in, from his involvement with some of the early KRS bands to the music released on the Honey Bear record label, it was just good, positive music. Every Police and Thieves starts with J Church’s “Fascist Radio” and, often enough, we try to squeeze in at least one more J Church or Cringer song. The Honey Bear Records site appears to have lapsed, which is a real loss of a piece of punk history. There is this memorial blog, but you can talk about how much one man’s music changed your life and never really convey how incredibly personal it all feels. Many of the J Church albums are still easy enough to get ahold of, and several albums are available on internet stores like itunes. The official J Church website also offers several MP3s. Also worth noting is Cilantro.
Oh, and in case you were wondering.
