Track Premiere: Jonathan Hay – Touch Peel and Stand (Nü-Jazz Mix)
I am 13 years old. I am in the passenger side of my brother’s car, on my way to buy Enter The Matrix with money I’ve saved up from my allowance. The radio is tuned to 101 KUFO, Portland Rock Radio.
After some hits from the likes of Korn and Pearl Jam and Sublime, three acts the station seemed to be obsessed with, Days of the New comes into the next slot with their hit “Touch, Peel and Stand.”
My brother and I are wearing matching trench coats. We stock up on snacks and sodas and I buy my first Rated T for Teen game with my own money.
I am 31 years old. I am commuting to work in my own car and listening to a playlist of promos, most of which I tell myself I’ll get to soon and I know that currently most of those promos will die in my inbox or hopefully be shepherded to people who have a bit more urge in them. Frankly, it’s been difficult to dig up the joy and interest in anything the way I would have 3 or 4 years ago. I find myself thinking back to the latest Matrix movie, surprised to have liked it as much as I did, for all its messy but genuine feeling and passion. I wonder if I should snag a copy to complete the series on my shelf. Through a hazy beat comes a sax playing a melody I remember from youth. I’m reminded of that youth’s messy but genuine passion. The memory makes me smile.
Producer and musician Jonathan Hay has this to say:
My career in the music industry started with the multi-platinum Days of the New. Sorry Jack Harlow, ‘Touch, Peel and Stand’ is the greatest record to ever come out of Louisville, Kentucky period. That can’t really be debated at this point as Billboard named it the ‘Greatest Mainstream Rock Song of All-Time’. With deep reverence, I reimagined ‘Touch, Peel and Stand’ as nü-jazz, replacing the classic rock hook with a contemporary saxophone. I’m looking forward to hearing what the original producer Scott Litt, and the Days of the New fans think of this new flip. This track is on the forthcoming album Wish You Were Brooklyn, that’s being distributed by Ingrooves (part of Virgin Music Group), the global independent music division of Universal Music Group.
