The_Jesus_Lizard
The saga of THE JESUS LIZARD begins on the hot Texas sands and ends up in your entrails. Vocalist David Yow and bassist David Wm. Sims were in the seminal Austin, Texas band Scratch Acid whose exploits are now legendary. Both moved to Chicago after Scratch Acid's demise where Sims played in Rapeman. Sims began playing with guitarist Duane Denison (Cargo Cult) and the two recruited Yow to do some singing... thus THE JESUS LIZARD was born.

Pure, their first EP had a drum machine, but that was soon rectified as drummer Mac McNeilly (86, Phantom 309) joined to complete the Lizard lineup. Head, was their first full-length album and was recorded when all four Lizards shared the same digs. They knew each other. Head is masterful in dynamics and subtleties and ruthlessly puissant. 1991's Goat album was solid evidence that THE JESUS LIZARD had evolved into one of the most visceral, compelling and necessary bands in America.

The release of Liar in October '92 guaranteed the band's ascension. the album was the culmination of hard times and the love of labour. It was more textured, precise, and surreal than their previous ventures, but combined all the pain, all the sex, and all the power of it's predecessors to take the band even further into uncharted musical territory. Following Liar's release the band traversed the Atlantic to launch their second European tour at London's Marquee. To complete this very special occasion each member of the audience was presented with an exclusively pressed 7" featuring "Gladiator" from the album.

After a couple of years in the making and with not a small amount of red tape cutting, one of the finest collaborative efforts to arise from the underground was released. THE JESUS LIZARD lifted "Puss" from the Liar album and NIRVANA donated their all new raw reminiscence "Oh, The Guilt" to the now legendary semi-limited edition split single of January '93 . It's release brought the Lizard's brief, but unprecedented appearance on Top Of The Pops.

August '93 saw the release of Lash, a six track single featuring two new studio numbers and an additional four live tracks culled from the band's first three albums. Although, due to it's length, the single did not qualify for the national charts, it did win them massive media and public support. The band followed it's release with their now legendary appearances of the main stage of the Reading Festival and at a vastly oversold gig at London's Garage.

Christmas of that year was celebrated in style. the band released a special limited edition colour vinyl single "(Fly) On (The Wall)", the Melody Maker put them on the front cover and London's Astoria Theatre was full to the brim. "(Fly) On (The Wall)" was given it's official release in January '94 at which point it set about dominating the indie charts for quite a considerable length of time.

August '94 was the release date for THE JESUS LIZARD's fourth and final full length album for Touch and Go. Down's release was preceded by the band's appearance, once again, on the main stage of The Reading Festival.

Also afoot in the camp of THE JESUS LIZARD are contributions to the forthcoming film, "Walls In the City", by noted cinematographer Jim Sikora. David Yow has a lead part in the film, whilst guitarist Duane Denison is responsible for the soundtrack. Duane worked on this in collaboration with drummer Jim Kimball, formerly of MULE, under the guise of THE DENISON/KIMBALL TRIO. There is of course no third member.

And then there's also talk of this video game.....