story by Dorothy Hernandez
photo by Lars Borges

It's probably happened to you once or twice in Friday or Saturday night outings with friends. One half wants to go clubbing, the other half would rather chill out in a bar that plays some good ol' rock and roll. The result: divisiveness and maybe a little resentment from the losing bunch. For these debates, it's too bad there aren't more artists out there like singer/songwriter/techno programmer/ Renaissance man Jake Fairley, a Toronto transplant now hobnobbing in Berlin, whose music would satisfy headbangers and dancers alike.

Fairley marries the two genres well and comes up with his own sound that provides some raucous, sinfully good fun. The formula - combining fat beats more jacked up than Penelope Cruz in Blow with the glam of David Bowie before he traded in makeup for suits and distorted guitars - is still quite new in a world where the mainstream hybrid music is rap-rock courtesy of the testosterone overflow that is Linkin Park and other similar bands.

But marginal mainstream success is just fine for Fairley, who is finding his niche and his audience in Europe. His diverse interest in music gives him a different edge that shows in his work.

FAIRLEY'S INNER VIEW "I like to think it is still techno music, that I made an album which is both techno and rock, rather than something in between."

"I love the idea of techno music for instance, but I only like a very small percentage of techno records. I would say I listen to more rock and pop than techno, more old records than new ones, but I do get excited about the odd track I hear in the clubs. I like records that don't get old, and I like bands and artists that have a real identity, but also experiment with their sound. I guess I find more of that mentality in the rock world," Fairley told Chicago Innerview.

Last fall, he released Touch Not the Cat, which is a reference to an old family motto of several British and Irish names and not an acid-induced snafu, on Toronto label Paper Bag Records. The product is a collection of straight up techno, such as "Radiator", which provides six minutes of thumping basslines, as well as the techno-rock amalgamation found in the opening tracks of "Nightstick" and "Mosquito".

Fairley may seem familiar to some; he used to play with post-punk rock band The Uncut. But after moving to Germany, even though his music is bipolar by nature, he just couldn't be in two places at once. Playing and touring with the band as well as trying to create his own music proved to be too much to handle at once, so after much deliberation he quit the band to focus on his solo work.

Fairley's solo effort is the product of a lot of things he couldn't do as a member of The Uncut. "I like to use a lot of guitar-like sounds, but I program them all on the synthesizers. Besides my voice and the odd drum sample, everything is created from scratch electronically. I like to think it is still techno music, that I made an album which is both techno and rock, rather than something in between."

Ironically, Fairley and The Uncut tied for "album of the year" in Toronto's largest newspaper.

As for his stage presence, Fairley's time rocking out has helped him come up with a concept for his live show. "I toyed with the idea of incorporating guitar and going for more of a band thing with my live shows," he says. "I played guitar with The Uncut and we had a great rock-band-with-a-drum machine show. Pulling out the guitar would just be a half-assed version of what I used to do with [former roommate and The Uncut partner] Ian [Worang] in my opinion. I find that a small setup of a drum machine, a sampler, a synthesizer and a mic is the best for what I got to do. I can pump up the crowd like a DJ and then rock the mic to take things up a notch."

Jake Fairley :: with Michael Mayer :: Smartbar :: February 24.