Jackie-O Motherfucker

Jackie-O Motherfucker is an American experimental music group that formed in Portland, Oregon in 1994.

Jackie-O Motherfucker began as a duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist Tom Greenwood and saxophonist Nester Bucket.[1] The group has had more than forty members drawn from the U.S. experimental scene, notably Natalie Mering, who now records under Weyes Blood, briefly on bass. As of 2008, the core of the group is founding member Greenwood.

Jackie-O Motherfucker’s music draws from a variety of subgenres including various folk musics of the world (American folk and blues, Native American song, Traditional English folk ballads, etc.), drone, free jazz, and space rock, and is heavily improvisational in its nature. Because they are a collective, rather than a consistent band or group, the sound of their music can change from performance to performance. The group operates its own label of CD-R live recordings, the U-Sound Archive, which features concert recordings from Jackie-O Motherfucker as well as like-minded subterranean artists such as Double Leopards, Sunroof!, Decaer Pinga, and Vibracathedral Orchestra.

The group’s first three albums were limited-run vinyl-only releases on now-defunct Portland label Imp Records. Since then, the group has had recordings released by many different labels from around the world before settling down with the London-based label Fire Records.

The group has been on several international tours, including several performances at All Tomorrow’s Parties Festivals by way of Sonic Youth. The band played the 2002 and 2004 festivals curated by Sonic Youth and the 2007 festival curated by Thurston Moore. The band has released their work through the ATP label and Moore’s own Ecstatic Peace! label. Several albums released by the group are from live shows, which stand apart from their other releases due to the improvisational nature.