Pull up a chair and ditch the charts, because we’re going back to 1995. That was the year the music world was drowning in three-chord grunge, but down in Melbourne, a fifteen-year-old kid named Jason McKee had his brain completely rewired. That kid is the engine behind ReeToxA, and he just dropped a track called “Dancing With Lou” that is part honest memoir, part dancefloor heater.
Here’s the real story behind it. Jason grew up in the gritty streets of Frankston, south of Melbourne. At fifteen, a friend’s dad threw on Lou Reed’s solo album The Blue Mask on vinyl. They sparked up a conversation, rolling a joint and talking about everything from awkward teenage life to sex positions—Jason even mentions his hands moved “like slow karate.” That single afternoon blew the doors off his musical perception. Up until then, he only knew Lou from Velvet Underground, but this solo stuff gave him permission to stop censoring his writing. He realized he could write about anything, no matter how raw or uncomfortable.
But let’s talk about the muscle behind this track, because ReeToxA isn’t working alone. To give that raw rock ‘n’ roll vibe the teeth it deserves, McKee brought in a legit dream team. Peter Marin of JET sits behind the drum kit. James Ryan from Ross Wilson / Men at Work handles the guitar, and Kit Riley—who has played with both Ross Wilson and Robbie Williams—holds down the bass. Simon Moro mixed and mastered the whole thing, and it sounds sharp as a tack. They cut the recording at The Avenue studio in Cheltenham, which is fitting because it sits exactly halfway between Jason’s hardscrabble Frankston roots and his current life in the city.
The song itself is taken from his second album Soliloquy. And here’s a wild piece of trivia: Jason wrote and compiled that entire album during the COVID lockdowns. He pushed himself so hard that it actually landed him in the hospital for six weeks. But get this—he calls it the most amazing songwriting experience of his life. That kind of dedication borders on insanity, but it bleeds out into the music.
Years later, Jason actually got to meet his idol on the “Ecstasy” tour. He was so intimidated that his arm was shaking so badly, Lou Reed literally had to hold his hand steady to sign a poster for him. That same poster now hangs framed on his wall as a daily reminder.
Right now, McKee is already halfway through tracking his third album (due out in February) and is in talks for a UK and European tour. “Dancing With Lou” is a gritty, unpolished tribute that demands you move your feet. It doesn’t apologize for being honest, and it definitely doesn’t care about being pretty. It is pure rock ‘n’ roll DNA—exactly how a teenage kid from the suburbs would want it.