You may remember reading about the Twitter-riffic dissolution of Jay Reatard’s band a few weeks back or even about the time he asked the Cola Freaks to join him shortly after that. Though we heard whispers about this in a bar late last week but were quickly distracted by a beer, Pitchfork reported yesterday that Wavves’ Nathan Williams has recently adopted a new backing band: bassist Stephen Pope and drummer Billy Hayes, formerly the rhythm section behind Reatard. Please note: these two are not to be confused with members of Reatard’s earlier band The Reatards. They are however, featured prominently in audiovisual evidence up top, a recent YouTube clip of the new three-piece shaking the stage at a recent show in Mexico City.

The vacancy in Williams’ lineup came as former drummer/wild man Zach Hill mangled his hand while playing drums recently. If you’ve ever seen dude hit a drum, that should make some sense. From his mouth to your brain:

so last week in los angeles at wavves practice i somehow mangled/broke/exploded my left hand while playing drums.it was immediately apparent that my injury was a little serious. after stopping practice i was unable to make a fist and my lacerations wouldnt stop bleeding. i visited a clinic and found i had two small fractures. one to the knuckles and one on my pointer finger plus some tweaked ligaments(unable to grip). this isnt a first for me but unfortunately the timing of its forced me to NOT be joining nate on the upcoming european wavves tour. bummer! the entire wavves tour will still go down as scheduled with some friends filling in and backing nate. they’re gonna handle it! hit up the shows! on the upside i should be straight in the hands within a few weeks and will be spending this period working on the new marnie stern album and finishing up my next solo release etc,etc,etc! PEACY P

Earlier this month we wrote about Jay’s bandmates calling it quits on him mid-tour and the Twitter-shots that were fired in retalliation. Well, Jay once has a rhythm section once again, and can commence touring as soon as next week. The new crew consists of Anders Thode (bass) and Jacob Elving (drums), both of the Cola Freaks. While it takes persons of a certain disposition to join a band called Cola Freaks, it would still seem as though their lives are about to get a lot more interesting. So if you see them on the street, give them a hug or a cup of coffee or something, and be glad they’ve saved Jay’s next stop in your town from cancellation. (Via: Matablog)

Pick L.A.: you win No Age. D.C.? Jay Reatard or Mew. Oakland? Rain Machine. New York City? Could be Jay, Kyp or Bad Lieutenant. It’s like a new unique experimental rock act at every corner. Jay even found a new rhythm section for the occasion.

Black Francis and Co. are embarking on a nine-city U.S. jaunt (right after their European dates that kick off the Doolittle Tour) to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their classic album Doolittle, and apparently thought it would be a worthwhile notion to spread the celebration around. Below are the dates and a confusing system of asterisks to differentiate opening bands.

11.04 Los Angeles, CA  @ Hollywood Palladium ^
11.05 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium %
11.06 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium *
11.08 Oakland, CA @ Fox Oakland Theater *
11.09 Oakland, CA @ Fox Oakland Theater ^
11.10 Oakland, CA @ Fox Oakland Theater %
11.12 Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre *
11.13 Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre ^
11.14 Eugene, OR @ Hult Center *
11.16 Denver, CO @ The Fillmore ^
11.17 Denver, CO @ The Fillmore
11.19 Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom #
11.20 Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom ^
11.21 Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom ~
11.23 New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom #
11.24 New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom ~
11.25 New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom *
11.25 New York, NY @ Hammerstein Ballroom (late show)
11.27 Boston, MA @ Wang Center ~
11.28 Boston, MA @ Wang Center *
11.30 Washington, D.C. @ Constitution Hall ~
12.01 Washington, D.C. @ Constitution Hall @

^ with No Age
% with Black Gold
* with Rain Machine
# with Bad Lieutenant
~ with Jay Reatard
@ with Mew

(Via: P4K)

And sadly we live in a world where even proclaimed-punk personalities are releasing statements via Twitter. Says Jay… ” “Band quit! Fuck them! They are boring rich kids who can’t play for ahit anyways … Say hello to your ugly and boring wifes opps I mean lifes guys suck it.”[.]” So much anger, grammar be damned. Unfortunately the rest of the band have no collective Twitter, so we may never find out their 140 character response to these accusations. Check the video above for further insight. (Via: Twitter)

We’re not going to lie. We’ve never actually seen the MTVU Woodie Awards. But then again, we don’t live in a dorm, so it sort of makes sense. We do remember the channel incessantly playing My Morning Jacket and E-40 back in the day, so they’re OK by us. And it seems logical enough MTV’s college version would get its own little baby VMAs. MTV just announced the nominations, and it seems Asher Roth is finally being rewarded for recording a generic (edit: offensive) song replicating the college experience. About damn time. But more in our lane, Grizzly Bear and Animal Collective have been nominated for a Breaking Woodie and a Performing Woodie respectively. Matt & Kim are up for a Best Video Woodie. And Jay Reatard (along with the likes of Major Lazer, Janelle Monae & Tech N9ne) are up for a Left Field Woodie, which we have yet to Wikipedia but would seem the only qualification might involve being inherently bizarre and happening to make incredible music. So we’re for it. Put those four in a room and film it and we’ll watch it over whatever replaced TRL any day. Done and done. The show takes place December 4th. Hopefully Matt (or Kim) will storm the stage (naked?) and grab the mic from Wale or someone in a fit of Brooklyn pride and demand a recount for Grizzly Bear. Full nominations here. (Via: MTV)