Jonathan Fire*Eater’s “Tremble Under Boom Lights” To Get Re-release Courtesy of Third Man

The proto-Walkmen ensemble’s long out-of-print EP will see the light of day on October 18, along with a book of Stewart Lupton’s poetry.
Jonathan Fire*Eater’s “Tremble Under Boom Lights” To Get Re-release Courtesy of Third Man

The proto-Walkmen ensemble’s long out-of-print EP will see the light of day on October 18, along with a book of Stewart Lupton’s poetry.

Words: Mike LeSuer

September 18, 2019

With Lizzy Goodman’s recent in-depth account of the life and death of Jonathan Fire*Eater—among many, many other tales of drama in NYC’s garage rock revival scene spanning the mid-’90s to the mid-’00s—many of us have become aware of just how influential the Stewart Lupton–led band was on the rebirth of palatable rock music in an era of perverted grunge and jaded nu metal. Despite giving rise to bands like The Strokes, Interpol, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (and without Lupton, going on to form The Walkmen with Hamilton Leithauser), the group’s three years’ worth of music has regrettably gone virtually unheard in the present day. 

As usual, this is where Jack White and Third Man Records come in, who’ll be restoring and re-releasing the band’s 1996 EP Tremble Under Boom Lights next month. In addition to the record’s five mostly unheard tracks, the package will include five more almost entirely unheard recordings, offering up the original EP’s opener “The Search for Cherry Red” as a preview today. Alongside the EP, Third Man will also be dropping a book of the late Lupton’s poems, featuring intros from JFE and The Walkmen’s Walter Martin and The Kills’ Alison Mosshart. 

Both items are out October 18 via Third Man. You can pre-order them here.