Biography

Jay Garrigan, whose voice has been compared to a mix of David Byrne, Rob Halford, Freddie Mercury and Jeff Buckley, writes skewed, confessional rock/pop songs and currently performs them with his band The-Eyebrows. Also, Jay constantly records solo material and occasionally produces other bands in his Stealth Kitty Studio.

His quirky, left-of-center lyrics and edgy, manic live shows helped win deals with major (RCA) and indie (Spectra Records) labels. In addition to leading his bands, he is also a noted guitarist, bassist and keyboardist in several Charlotte original rock outfits, and has played keys and sometimes bass in Temperance League on their last five records.

Consistently, Jay Garrigan has been a member of some of Charlotte, North Carolina’s most beloved and highly regarding acts during the height of their success, including 2nd Skin, Violet Strange (RCA, Esker), Laburnum (Deep South Records), Virginia Reel, Transmission Fields (Spectra Records), Poprocket, Garrigan (Spectra Records) and Temperance League.

Jay’s music resume includes many working relationships with music legends. Jay Garrigan has recorded songs with Ed Stasium (Living Color, Ramones, David Bowie), Steve Haigler (Pixies, Scrawl, Throwing Muses), Brian Malouf (Pearl Jam, Madonna, Michael Jackson), Jeff Tomai (Hole, Smashing Pumpkins), Mitch Easter (REM, Let’s Active, Pavement, Squirrel Nut Zippers), Clint Steele (Swans, Mary My Hope) and local producers Joe Kuhlman and Chris Garges. Jay’s bands have opened for Matthew Sweet, *Repeat Repeat, Alabama Shakes, Pavement, Cracker, Love Language, Wanda Jackson, Bob Seger, Badfinger, B-52s, Indigo Girls, Depeche Mode, Five-Eight and Melissa Etheridge.

After taking a forced hiatus from songwriting and performing in 2012 due to painful, life-altering chronic corneal erosion resulted from botched Lasik surgery (details available upon request), Jay started working on a slew of new material in his home recording studio. Like the mythological phoenix, Jay reinvents himself with every The-Eyebrows and solo recording.