David Fair, Half Japanese Co-Founder, Has Died

David Fair, co-founder of the influential DIY rock band Half Japanese, has died. Fair’s passing was shared Sunday by Thick Syrup Records and filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig, a longtime friend who directed the 1993 documentary Half Japanese: The Band That Would Be King. Fair’s brother and bandmate Jad Fair also posted a childhood photo of the two on Facebook following the news. Producer Don Fleming, a friend and former Half Japanese member, said Fair died peacefully on Saturday shortly after his daughter Harper toasted him with a root beer float. Fleming also said Fair had undergone treatment for cancer over the past several years, though a cause of death has not formally been announced. “The sweetest guy, with a great sense of humor,” Fleming wrote. “He was a pure artist and musician, all from the heart.” David and Jad Fair started making music together after their family moved from Michigan to Uniontown, Maryland, in the mid-’70s, eventually turning their home recording sessions into Half Japanese. Neither brother had much interest in the conventional. They traded instruments, ignored traditional tunings and song structures, and built their earliest recordings around the belief that raw ...