Lambeth

Took a little jaunt to Austin this past weekend, and I’d like to report that the town grows like a cancer every year. I am no fan of the “Keep Austin Weird” nonsense that pervades the every growing enclave of cool, but I do like the town and it is a nice respite from Houston and all that she encompasses. I brought home quite a haul of music from Waterloo, spending a nice chunk of money that I really don’t have, but what the hell, I was dying for new music so sometimes you just bite the bullet.

Among the loot was a DVD concert of the 90s rock juggernaut, The Jesus Lizard. All the reviews I have read of the disc led me to believe that this was a professionally shot film that just happened to sit in the can for thirteen years, but after watching it, I can say that this is actually a movie shot with a few camcorders synched together and a slightly less than terrible sound recording (possibly the condenser mics that came with the cam’s).

The Jesus Lizard were a hugely popular underground band, as most of you undoubtedly already know, and while it became less cool to keep liking them after they began to get noticed, anyone who doesn’t get what they were about is really missing out on what made rock not only survive the 90s but thrive through them.

Being from Texas, and growing up a massive Scratch Acid fan, it was only natural for me to carry on with the Jesus Lizard, and so I was virtually a shoe-in to love this band regardless of my own band situation. But as it turned out, every single one of the three semi-serious bands I have played in since the nineties has had the incredible fortune of opening for The Jesus Lizard. And let me tell you, that is no small feat. A band as powerful live as those guys could easily eat lesser bands alive, and all of my bands were unquestionably lesser bands. I mean, we gave it a shot, but we never had a chance against guys like them. But they were always incredibly gracious, and incredibly humble in the face of my fawning and swooning whenever I had the opportunity to talk with the members of the band. Even Jim Kimball* (a monster in his own right but a poor fit for the Lizard, who replaced Mac McNeilly (who split to raise his kids)), blew me away with his kindness.

*Kimball, by the way, was the original drummer for the Laughing Hyenas, one of my all-time favorite bands.

As for their music, The Jesus Lizard didn’t really blaze any trails. In fact, their influences were readily apparent. Many who never quite got them simply heard the plodding riffs and felt that the music was too one-dimensional, but the way with which they executed their attack, with such power and assuredness, not to mention intelligence, was simply unmatched. On record, they used the talents of a one Mr. Steve Albini to create a taut, menacing, and consistent sound. Live, however, was a different animal. They took all the strengths of their recordings and inflated them to epic levels once they hit the stage, and they did so night after night. No band has ever been able to match their intensity with equal might and aggressiveness. Tons of bands jump around and act “crazy,” but it’s all an act. When the Lizard would play it just seemed to click into place. They always held the perfect balance of threat, precision, lunacy, drunken psychosis, physical sound, poetic imagery, and intelligent distance.

They were the perfect live band, and this DVD shows them if not at their peak, then still in fine form. By 1994 the boys had just released the album Down, which for them was the first time they actually began the knob twiddling that takes place in studio, and for once there is a change in the way they sound on record. There is a higher level of clarity on that album then on previous outings, but they are still as mighty as ever. In fact, they even begin to exploit guitarist Duane Denison’s jazz leanings at times. I think it’s a highly underrated release in their catalogue considering how much love was afforded them to date and how little following.

The performance is in Boston at the Venus De Milo. If you’ve ever seen the band live then you know what to expect. Yow is everywhere on stage, sweating profusely, muttering into the mike, spitting, leaping into the crowd, and generally showing why he was the best vocalist of the nineties bar none. Duane Denison stands solid, coaxing monstrous riffs out of a Hamer guitar (!) and his stalwart Hiwatt amps. His tone is a little tinny on the video and while he is more than audible, maybe even too loud at times, you also get to hear how professional his playing was every single night. David William Sims is wearing his usual flannel, goatee, and maniacal smirk, and his bass playing is solid, percussive, and perfectly in synch with the drums. As for the drums, Mac McNeilly shows why he was and is my favorite drummer of the nineties, and top ten all-time drummers period. He has a loose and yet simultaneously tight style that always propels the songs forward without ever loosing sight of the material at hand. He was always able to appear as though he was going to fall apart at any minute even though no band could ever play music this propulsive without a near genius on the drums. The perfect case in point is the misstep of replacing McNeilly with Kimball later on. The way Kimball is able to play around a beat without getting too clever is simply a joy to my ears, but with the Jesus Lizard he never sounded like he was leading the band but trying to keep up, and that guy is way better than that.

Near the end of the concert, the video cuts to an interview with David Yow by some total doofus representing some cable access show called Hype TV. The guy is your run of the mill hipster retard who clearly thinks he’s clever, but it’s still awesome to see Yow not only talking for once, but also realizing that even though he must recognize that the guy interviewing him is a total douche, Yow is never mean to him or condescending. In fact he generally gives honest answers to some good questions, but also some pushy and somewhat pompous one’s too. The best part of the interview is when Yow tells the guy that Yow can’t stand MTV and that this is in no small part due to the wank job that MTV has shown bands like Green Day. He keeps saying that he can’t stand the stupid, fake British accents that Billie Joe assumes on their recordings. Also good is when Yow lambastes the major labels for trying to court the Jesus Lizard all while the boys simply keep telling the majors that they will need more money in order to sign. Of course the future would end up being a different story, but in 1994, things were still looking fairly good for Yow and the boys.

It was nice to revisit the brilliance of the Jesus Lizard. I didn’t see anything I haven’t seen before, hear anything new, or get blown away in any way I haven’t already been blown away. But despite all that, this video is worth every penny. Buy it as soon as possible. I’m so glad I did.