Terrorbird

Jeffrey Lewis was raised on New York City's Lower East Side by loving beatnik parents. Having no television in the tenement apartment, he became a comic book fanatic before even learning how to read. Initially inspired by the gentle psychedelic folk of Donovan, the DIY magic of Daniel Johnston, and the fearless early recordings of local folk-punk legends the Fugs, Lewis began recording home-

made cassettes in 1998 and selling them, packaged in small comic books, at his soon semi-monthly shows at The Fort, home of New York's infamous Antifolk scene. Lewis's younger brother Jack began playing electric bass and contributing to the shows and tapes. When other Fort performers the Moldy Peaches signed to Rough Trade Records in early 2001, they recommended Jeffrey's cassette recordings to label head Geoff Travis (the legendary "golden-eared" discoverer of the Smiths and the Strokes among others). Rough Trade has since released three full-length Jeffrey Lewis CDs, garnering glowing press and an ever-growing devoted following for the idiosyncratic illustrator/songwriter. Jeffrey Lewis, with and without the band, has done barnstorming headline tours of England and Europe, and stints around the United States as well, sharing bills along the way with international acts big and small, including Cornershop, the Fall, Beth Orton, Frank Black, Daniel Johnston, the Mountain Goats, Radio 4, Adam Green, Kimya Dawson, British Sea Power, the Fiery Furnaces, Thurston Moore, the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Suicide, Devendra Banhart, The Cribs and others.

In 2005 the album Jeffrey & Jack Lewis: City & Eastern Songs was recorded by indie-rock maverick producer Kramer (Galaxie 500, Butthole Surfers, Low, Daniel Johnston, etc) and will be released on Rough Trade America on September 26, 2006. Jeffrey's most recent comic book series Fuff is currently up to issue four.