Profile - Clay Reed:

Clay Reed has been working as the ticket taker at Lefont Plaza Theater for about 10 years. You may also recognize him as the singer and guitarist of one of Atlanta’s finest and longest-running rock bands, the Subsonics.

The Plaza Theater has changed significantly since its days as a second-run art film/dollar theater. Evening show tickets are now $8, and according to Clay, there are “fewer schizophrenics and derelicts, and more people that go to hairdressers.”

Clay almost never watches the movies that come to the Plaza.

On Rocky Horror Friday nights: “It’s all pretty corny.”

The Subsonics have been playing their unique brand of rock ‘n’ roll — a cross between the Cramps and the Velvet Underground — since 1992. During that time, they have had seven different bass players. Clay and multi-talented drummer Buffi Aguero are original members.

Clay has been playing guitar for 26 years. In case you were wondering, he’s a Gibson man, although he has been known to play a Fender here and there. His weapon of choice is the semi-hollow body Gibson ES-350.

The Subsonics have toured extensively throughout Europe and North America. They have played in Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. “Every place I’ve been seems better than America in some way.”

On his connection (or lack thereof) to the Atlanta music scene: “There are different kinds of connections. Convicts are connected to a ball and chain. Experimental animals are connected to some sort of torture device. Lepers are connected to lesions.”

Don’t believe the hype: Contrary to popular belief, Clay is not the son of Velvet Underground drummer and Atlanta resident Moe Tucker. “I don’t know how that rumor got started.”

The Subsonics are currently recording a new album, due out in the spring, at Cabbagetown’s Zero Return Studio.