{"id":23232,"date":"2024-12-24T09:04:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T09:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/?p=23232"},"modified":"2025-01-05T21:10:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T21:10:42","slug":"people-want-to-get-onstage-and-stagedive-but-if-you-run-into-me-youre-not-coming-back-theres-a-travis-bean-shaped-dent-in-someones-head-duane-denison-o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/2024\/12\/24\/people-want-to-get-onstage-and-stagedive-but-if-you-run-into-me-youre-not-coming-back-theres-a-travis-bean-shaped-dent-in-someones-head-duane-denison-o\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cPeople want to get onstage and stagedive, but if you run into me, you\u2019re not coming back. There\u2019s a Travis Bean-shaped dent in someone\u2019s head\u201d: Duane Denison on the inspired return of the Jesus Lizard \u2013 and that time he tried to sell Steve Howe a guitar"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/source>\"Duane<\/img><\/picture><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Each time the Jesus Lizard make their way back to the stage, it\u2019s cause for celebration. Even so, when the hard-bruising rock quartet dropped into Nashville\u2019s Blue Room venue within the Third Man Records building this past June, the excitement was markedly different.<\/p>\n

Just the day before, the group \u2013 who have been maintaining an off-and-on reunion phase since 2008 \u2013 officially announced Rack<\/em>, their first full-length release since the late \u201990s. The show likewise featured the live debut of Hide & Seek<\/em>, the record\u2019s manically concussive lead-off track, which easily proves that the Jesus Lizard\u2019s confrontational spirit remains intact nearly 40 years after the project first got off the ground.<\/p>\n

And sure enough, guitarist Duane Denison confirms that sweat-slicked vocalist David Yow was once again surfing his way above their fans, his steel-toe-pointed cowboy boots kicking dangerously against the wind. Something has changed since that first era, though: Yow\u2019s mostly fully clothed now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he starts off with a shirt these days \u2013 he\u2019s not full Iggy \u2013 but the boots are still there. He still goes out in the crowd, maybe not quite as much; we worry about that,\u201d Denison says from his Nashville home, alluding to the fact that all four members have now crossed well into their 60s.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut David Sims is playing his bass; to my left I\u2019ve got Mac [McNeilly] playing drums. Everything\u2019s dialed in, and away we go! The Jesus Lizard takes on a life of its own; I\u2019m a cog in the machine here, but it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denison has been keeping himself well-oiled this whole time. Since Jesus Lizard\u2019s initial dissolution, he\u2019s made five albums of fractiously experimental alt-metal as part of Tomahawk, alongside Mr. Bungle\u2019s Mike Patton; he\u2019s also backed country outlaw Hank Williams III and cut a loose-cannon solo on Morning, Noon and Night <\/em>from Jack White\u2019s Fear of the Dawn<\/em> album in 2022. Denison nevertheless admits there was something extra special about getting the Jesus Lizard back in the studio.<\/p>\n

Formed in Austin in 1988 by Denison, Sims and Yow, the Jesus Lizard initially delivered art-damaged post-punk subversion with the help of a drum machine.<\/p>\n

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By the time they moved to Chicago just ahead of the Nineties, they picked up jackhammer percussionist in McNeilly, and together they produced a mean-streaked, unbeatable four-album run with producer Steve Albini, from 1990\u2019s Head<\/em> through to 1994\u2019s Down<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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the Jesus Lizard “Hide & Seek” – YouTube<\/span>\"the<\/img><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While heroes within the noise-driven American underground, they also put out a split 7-inch with Nirvana when the latter were at peak-grunge popularity; toured on the mainstage of Lollapalooza in 1995; and by 1996, they\u2019d signed to Capitol Records to deliver Shot<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But then McNeilly left the band before they made 1998\u2019s Blue<\/em> \u2013 which featured drummer Jim Kimball \u2013 and while the record teeters toward the bone-grinding intensity of their early work, outliers like the electronica-touched Needles for Teeth<\/em> seem a little weird to the band, in retrospect.<\/p>\n

Conceptualized around 2019 and tracked in late 2023, Rack<\/em> isn\u2019t exactly a back-to-basics affair for the Jesus Lizard, but Denison\u2019s playing does hold common ground with the decadently slurred jazz licking of Goat\u2019s iconic opening Then Comes Dudley<\/em> or blues-staggered punch-ups like Puss <\/em>off of 1992\u2019s Liar<\/em>. He\u2019s a jazz-trained player who grew up loving prog but was drawn in by the stately post-punk inkiness of Siouxsie and the Banshees and Killing Joke.<\/p>\n

Rack<\/em> reflects all of that and more, whether Denison\u2019s riding a coal-black phosphorescent surf (Dunning Kruger<\/em>); expressing wide-interval wonkiness (Hide & Seek<\/em>); or plinking through a newly semi-acoustic kind of creepiness (Swan the Dog<\/em>).<\/p>\n

The album finds the rest of the group in fine, brute form, too. Sims aggressively leans into a series of mid-twonked walking bass freakouts, while his low-end solo on the roadhouse-leveling Lord Godiva <\/em>is fit with just enough teeth-baring fuzz to show you he means business. Frontman Yow retains his recognizably drawled-and-scratchy, melody-damaged menace. McNeilly\u2019s max-punishment beating is straight but savage.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the latest return of the Jesus Lizard \u2013 this time in album form \u2013 is welcome news to many. To put it as Yow does above the slow-lurching doom-blues of Rack<\/em>\u2019s Armistice Day<\/em>, \u201cnow the pain is returning<\/em>.\u201d And damn\u2026 does it ever feel good.<\/p>\n

There are naturally some similarities between your playing in Tomahawk and the Jesus Lizard. Is there a different kind of consideration you put into the riffs when you\u2019re writing for a vocalist like David Yow, versus someone like Mike Patton?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"The<\/img>
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\u201cIn the bigger scene, Britpop was in; techno was in; hip-hop was in. Everything except guitar-driven hard-rock bands. That last album, Blue<\/em>, was produced by [Gang of Four guitarist] Andy Gill; we were encouraged by the label to \u2018modernize,\u2019 so there are samples on that record and touches of drum machines here and there. And\u2026 no-one cared!<\/p>\n

\u201cEven diehard fans have never heard that record. It\u2019s probably out of print, and Capitol are not going to do anything with it, because it didn\u2019t sell that much. I was glad to see that chapter close. We all went about our business and dispersed from Chicago. One guy went to New York; I went to Nashville; another guy went to L.A.; one guy stayed in Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when we started playing the reunion shows in 2009, it was liberating. It was gratifying that people wanted to hear those old songs, and wanted to see us play \u2013 and that we could still deliver!<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a while to get us all on the same page to do this album, but I\u2019m hoping that the reaction will be like when we came back and started playing shows, where people go, \u2018Wow, I\u2019d figured you\u2019d be good, but not that good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Hide & Seek<\/strong><\/em> tees off this phase as the first single and opening track on Rack. The sound of those two dissonant-run lead breaks feels different within your repertoire.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Richard Ecclestone\/Redferns via Getty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved working with David Sims. He was on the same wavelength. Organized. A \u2018plan-your-work-and work-your-plan\u2019 kind of guy. We seemed to hit it off right from the start. Our first rehearsals were in an abandoned house [in Austin] where the electricity hadn\u2019t been shut off yet.<\/p>\n

\"Falling<\/img><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, it\u2019s the best feeling in the world. You know, I\u2019ve done a lot of stuff since we last did a record \u2013 I\u2019ve done five albums with Tomahawk; I did some one-offs with other projects; I\u2019ve played on sessions for other people. But to have the Jesus Lizard back? It seems like there\u2019s a level of excitement I didn\u2019t quite see with the other projects. People are so happy to hear that we\u2019re back. We\u2019re all super-psyched about this album. We want people to hear it, and we want people to come and see us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yow\u2019s still getting out in the crowd, but how much action are you seeing onstage? Any accidents or mishaps?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been some altercations over the years that we\u2019ve all been involved in \u2013 pushing and shoving; maybe the odd punch. I try to avoid that these days, for a lot of reasons, but there was a time when that was part of the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople want to get onstage and stagedive, but if you run into me, you\u2019re not coming back. Like, don\u2019t run into us; don\u2019t trip over the pedals. That\u2019s half the reason I didn\u2019t use pedals for years \u2013 it was just chaotic mayhem. I feel like, \u2018You know what, if you want to get on stage, go out and get your own band together.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there a head-shaped dent in one of your old Travis Beans?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a Travis Bean-shaped dent in someone\u2019s head, more like it. Those things don\u2019t dent easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

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    Gregory Adams is a Vancouver-based arts reporter. From metal legends to emerging pop icons to the best of the basement circuit, he\u2019s interviewed musicians across countless genres for nearly two decades, most recently with Guitar World<\/em>, Bass Player<\/em>, Revolver<\/em>, and more \u2013 as well as through his independent newsletter, Gut Feeling<\/a>. This all still blows his mind. He\u2019s a guitar player, generally bouncing hardcore riffs off his \u201952 Tele reissue and a dinged-up SG.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    (Image credit: Doug Coombes) Each time the Jesus Lizard make their way back to the stage, it\u2019s cause for celebration. Even so, when the hard-bruising rock quartet dropped into Nashville\u2019s Blue Room venue within the Third Man Records building this past June, the excitement was markedly different. Just the day before, the group \u2013 who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23236,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23232\/revisions\/23236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/guitarmadrid.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}