BIG QUESTIONS – THE JAZZ BUTCHER – What Is Your Point Of View? – R.I.P. Pat Fish

Pat Fish, the guitarist, lyricist, songwriter, and bandleader best known for his work as the Jazz Butcher, died on Dec. 5, 2021. He died of a heart attack supposedly brought on by chronic sleep apnea. The news was shared by his longtime collaborator Max Eider and his former label, Glass Modern. Fish was 64. He was fittingly described as a ‘Boozer, Intellectual, and Troubadour’ and unique, original and charming. Hey! Wait a minute! I’m 64! I have sleep apnea and a heart condition! Thanks for the heads up Mr. Fish.

A prolific songwriter, known for both silly and dark lyrics, he surrounded himself with a rotating cast of musicians, Fish made more than a dozen, genre-mucking albums as the Jazz Butcher. When joined by bandmates for the project, he released music under aliases such as The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy or JBC, the Jazz Butcher Group, the Jazz Butcher and his Sikkorskis from Hell, the Jazz Butcher Quartet and the Jazz Butcher Quintet. Over the years, the bands’ ancillary musicians included David J and Kevin Haskins, of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets.

Born Patrick Huntrods in London in 1957, Fish studied at Oxford. He moved to Northampton and formed the Jazz Butcher with guitarist Max Eider in the early 1980s. They released their debut album, In Bath of Bacon, on Glass Records in 1983. When the Jazz Butcher signed with Creation in 1987, the label was best known for putting out early post-punk classics by Primal Scream and the Jesus and Mary Chain, bands that would transfer to the majors before the decade was out. Creation boss Alan McGee told the Northampton Chronicle & Echo that, in those years, Fish and the Jazz Butcher kept the lights on. “He was part of the reason that we actually did well,” McGee admitted.

I had the pleasure and privilege to see the Jazz Butcher live in the mid eighties. I’m pretty sure it was at the UofA’s SUB Theatre but I couldn’t find anything on-line about TJB’s Canadian tour to refresh my memory. There was no Google record. Go figure. I do remember that they put on a rollicking, jangly, and fun show. Pat Fish was known to drink a fair bit before, during, and after shows and he did appear and present a bit shy and wobbly but played brilliantly nonetheless. They had a lot of songs about ‘drink’. Live concerts were one of the few sources of joy for me during some rather dark times.

“What is your point of view?
Are you a hedonist, a relativist, a materialist?
Are you devoted to Camus, to Marx, or to Einstein?
What makes the most sense to you?
Physics, yoga, LSD?
…LSD?!” – Jazz Butcher – My Desert

The Legacy:

Albums

• In Bath of Bacon (1983)
• A Scandal in Bohemia (1984),
• Sex and Travel (1985),
• Distressed Gentlefolk (1986)
• Fishcotheque (1988) 
• Big Planet Scarey Planet (1989)
• Cult Of The Basement (1990)
• Black Eg (1991)
• Condition Blue (1992)
• Waiting for the Love Bus (1993)
• Illuminate (1995)
• Rotten Soul (2000)
• Last of the Gentleman Adventurers (2012)
• The Highest in the Land (2022)

Singles

• “Partytime” (1983)
• “Southern Mark Smith” (1983)
• “Marnie” (1984)
• “Roadrunner” (1984)
• “Zombie Love” (1984)
• “Affection” (1984)
• “Real Men” (1985)
• “The Human Jungle” (1985)
• “Christmas with the Pygmies” (1985)
• “Leaving It Up to You” (1985)
• “Hard” (1986)
• “Angels” (1986)
• “The Devil Is My Friend” (1986)
• “Peter Lorre” (1986)
• “Spooky” (1988)
• “New Invention” (1989)
• “Girl Go” (1990)
• “We Love You” (1990)
• “She’s a Yo-Yo” (1991)
• “Shirley MacLaine” (1991)
• “Sweetwater” (1993)
• “Vodka Girls” (1994)
• “Sixteen Years” (1995)
• “All The Saints” (2016)
• “Never Give Up” (2022)