Jed Davis

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Jed Davis (born July 7, 1975 in Farmingdale, New York) is a New York City musician.

As a high-school senior, keyboardist Davis formed the band Skyscape with singer Domenic Maltempi in 1991. Skyscape recorded a CD, Band of the Week, two years later. After moving to the Albany area to attend the State University of New York at Albany, Davis performed in a solo capacity, self-releasing a demo tape titled Jed Has Too Much Free Time. The demo's 33 songs were recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder by Davis and guitarist Alex Dubovoy in one weekend marathon.

Davis formed a new band, The Hanslick Rebellion, in 1995 with Dubovoy and bassist Mike Keaney. Known for a live show matched in intensity only by the group's backstage in-fighting, the Rebellion self-released the live cassette the rebellion is here in 1996. The volatile band imploded and ended in early 1997, reuniting for a tenth anniversary performance at New York's CBGB on September 22, 2005.

After graduation Davis moved to Woodhaven, Queens, and began composing in earnest across the musical spectrum, releasing two solo albums, We're All Going to Jail! (1997) and Jed Davis Wastes 8 Years of His Life for Your Listening Pleasure (1999) on Connecticut-based independent label J-Bird Records.

As programmer for the electronica/punk fusion band Collider (formed 1997), Davis was a pioneer of New York City's Electroclash movement. Collider's debut album, 1998's Blowing Shit Up, was a mash-up of samples, dance grooves, synthesizers, and rock guitars applied to traditional pop forms and themes.

In 2001, J-Bird Records honored Davis with Everybody Wants to be Like Jed, a tribute album which featured cover art by Peter Bagge and performances of signature Davis tunes by an eclectic host of indie artists including Brian Dewan, Daniel Johnston, Anal Cunt, Wesley Willis, King Missile, and members of Agnostic Front.

Moving to lower Manhattan influenced Davis's transition from Electroclash toward a rawer punk sound, and to that end he began collaborating with some of New York's original punk rockers. Collider's final release, WCYF (2003), was produced by Ramones drummer/producer Tommy Ramone. In addition, Davis's tribute song to Joey Ramone, "The Bowery Electric", brought Tommy, Marky and CJ Ramone, as well as Ramones producer Daniel Rey, together for a historic recording session.

As a session keyboardist, Davis has performed and recorded with musical acts of all genres, including Jessica Simpson, The Deuce Project, and Bandcamp. He has also written the music and lyrics for a stage musical, Rise and Shine, with librettist Arturo Vega.

After Collider disbanded in 2004, Davis released a single, "With Love From America", under the band name The Congregation Of Vapors. He resumed full-time duty with The Hanslick Rebellion following their 2005 reunion; to date they have released a remastered version of the rebellion is here on CD, and a digital EP entitled The Deli Of Life, which spawned a successful online video for the song "You Are Boring The Shit Out Of Me".

In July 2008, Davis recorded 14 songs for a solo album at Chicago's Electrical Audio with engineer Steve Albini under the working title Shoot the Piano Player. As is customary for Albini recordings, the entire album was captured live to tape as performed by Davis and drummer Joe Abbatantuono.

Davis is currently working on new material, both solo and with a new band, Jeebus. The latter features members of both Collider and the Rebellion, plus guitarist Reeves Gabrels. He is also producing a recording for New Hampshire singer-songwriter Amy Willey.

Davis is co-founder of the independent folk-punk record label Eschatone Records, which is home to Dewan, Michael Bassett, The Visitors and wax.on wax.off, and has also released material by The Valley Arena. He left the company board in the spring of 2009 to concentrate on making his own music; the label will release his CD I Am Jed Davis!, a compilation of representative tracks from Shoot The Piano Player and two other finished but unreleased albums, on July 31.

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