The Technical Jed
| The Technical Jed | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Richmond, Virginia, United States |
| Genres | Indie rock |
| Years active | 1991–1996 |
| Labels | Brilliant Records, spinART Records |
The Technical Jed was a rock band from Richmond, Virginia. The band started when Daniel Bartels and David Bush, who were working together at an oriental carpet store, asked Clancy Fraher and Steve Brooking to join them. Fraher taught Bartels some open tunings on his new telecaster, then promptly left the country to explore Europe for a month. When Fraher returned, Daniel had begun creating his own musical vocabulary that was later crucial in setting this band apart from the typical 2-guitar bands of the day. Many reviewers likened them to Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd of Television.
Kramer's Beach split single
Richmond label Brilliant Records' David Moore asked the band to contribute a pair of songs to a double-7" w/ fellow Richmond band Twitch Hazel (featuring members of Fudge).
Wyatt's Torch E.P.
Brilliant released an E.P. featuring songs from VA bands Poole, Technical Jed, the Seymores, and Ultra Cindy.
Southern States
The band did a couple of songs with David Lowery at Sound of Music Studios. The groups manager at the time, Caroline Frye, sent out 6 demo cassettes to a select group of indie labels. The New York based SpinART Records heard the cassette and signed the band to a 2-record deal. The first record, Southern States, was mostly a compilation of singles and material that had been released previously. It was a broad collection of rock flavors stirred over a few years. The album peaked at 43 in the CMJ chart.
the Oswald Cup
The second record for spinART was more of a concentrated effort. The group worked with producer Rich Costey to create an album that highlighted their guitar work and studied interplay with the rhythm section.
Touring band
The regular rhythm section was restricted by career choices and were not able to tour. As a result, Fraher and Bartels chose to take members of their favorite Richmond punk bands out as substitutes. John Gotschalk (Kneivels, Nrg Krysys-bass), Ricky Tubb (Waking Hours-bass), Bret Payne (Morefire for Burning People-drums), Becky Sanchez-Burr (Morefire...-bass), and David Ramsden were among the few that took up the challenge. Fraher and Bartels found this method to be unsatisfactory and decided ultimately to hang it up after the release of the Oswald Cup. spinArt virtually shelved the record temporarily and its release was never fully promoted. "We're stripping the Oswald Cup CDs and using your jewel cases for our other releases..." The album has since been added to iTunes.
Current Events
Clancy Fraher currently resides in Chicago and is performing with Joe Nio of the Seymores in the New Messengers. Daniel Bartels teaches physics and builds robots with his students for competition. Steve Brooking is still building up the city during the day time and tearing it down at night. David Bush is an IT director for a large media company. The group reunited for a show November 24, 2012 in Richmond, VA. It was a fundraiser for WRIR, Richmond Independent Radio.