Judy And The Jerks: Live In NWI

 

picture by Miles Claibourn

 

Judy And The Jerks and I have always had, for some reasons I can't really understand, a quite distant relationship since the very beginning of the band from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in 2017. If you've read a few of my posts here you may have noticed that I'm really into punk and hardcore punk bands with strong female vocals presence and Judy And The Jerks (JATJ) ticks all the boxes to become a personal favourite of mine. But it never was. Not that I don't like their sound or their attitude or anything, I was just not "attracted" to their records and never gave them the chance they deserve.

It may be the donuts thing on Music for Donuts released on Thrilling Living in 2019 (I hate donuts) or the too high pitched vocals I did not enjoy at the time or maybe just the fact that the quartet's career started at a time when I was too "busy" and less into new punk records.

 

But whatever it was (nobody gives a damn after all) it doesn't matter anymore because I've stumbled upon their last tape, Live In NWI, a few weeks ago ...

 and it totally blew my mind.

Recorded on Jan 6th 2020 in a basement in Hammond, Indiana, by Erik Hart aka Erik Nervous, this 10-track live tape is the 22nd release of Earth Girls Tapes, a punk label from Hattiesburg managed by Hampton Martin who plays the bass in JATJ and used to play in Big Bleach and Baghead, two bands you should check out and whose records were released on his label as well. I've mentioned Earth Girls once before, it was in my 2020 post about the Mississippi UFO Mspaint, and it was great.

By the way Live In NWI is also the 7th JATJ release on Earth Girls. This being said let's take a dive in the pit!

Perfectly catching the tremendous live energy of the band, this recording sums up exactly what you want from a hardcore punk band, it's fast, intense, sharp as fuck but also fun!

Covering most of their Music for Donuts EP, Judy and her mates also go through some early materials like Slugarama and Sweet Treat from their demo but also the hilarious Dog from Roll On Summer Holidays and Specimen A and Buford from Bone Spur, which gives a great overview of their discography.

With only one track out of 10 making it beyond the 2 minutes mark, it's a really short set (but aren't the shortest things the greatest?) but it does not matter, it's a great flash of perfectly mastered punk in your face and that's all we bloody want after all right?

 

Only one negative point, I don't really understand this thing for cover artworks evoking failed drawings of kids in total lack of inspiration but well, for a cassette I don't mind in the end I will never own it anyway (I refuse to support the trade of this outdated and dead format, call me a moron if you want).

 

Anyway here is the live video footage of (most) of the show and also one older video.

 

 N,J'Oi!

 

 

 

 

 

picture by Luke Tipton

 

 

 

 

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