The TL;DR Verdict
The Jesus Lizard Rack: A Return To Form
The Jesus Lizard was a force of nature in the 90’s and changed the landscape in the midst of the Grunge era. So how do they sound now? For a band who released their last album 26 years ago… you may be surprised!
It has been a while since we have heard The Jesus Lizard, but the band has finally quit teasing us with reunions and dropped a full album. They haven’t changed a bit!
— Chris, ELECTRIKJAM
Key Takeaways
Best Track
Hide And Seek
Album Length
38 mins 48 seconds
Produced By
Paul Allen
Release Date:
September 13th, 2024
ELECTRIKJAM RATING:
★★★★
The Jesus Lizard Returns!
Like all album reviews, I will start this one with a personal anecdote, and then talk about how the album was made, with quotes from the band members. But this one is a little special…
I was knee-deep into 90’s rock when I first heard The Jesus Lizard. Bands like Nirvana, The Melvins, and Mudhoney were all the rage. Grunge had taken over the scene, 120 Minutes came on MTV weekly. It was a good time to be alive!
I went to see the Afghan Whigs play and The Jesus Lizard were there that night. I had never heard of the band, but I was blown away. Singer David Yow ripped off his shirt and jumped into the crowd while distorted guitar drifted into feedback.
Sounds pretty cool right? It was! The crowd went wild at the end, bewildered by the performance and sheer power of the band.
I bought every album by the band and realized they were part of the Steve Albini club. A producer that is near and dear to my heart. Each album by The Jesus Lizard was different, but the vibe was the same. It was raucous.
They often get labeled as “noise rock” and I think that is unfair. The guitar riffs have some off-kilter parts, but it never goes into say… Dillinger Escape Plan territory. In fact, the groove is often what carries the song.
But it has been almost 3 decades since the last album release. The Jesus Lizard has been around, doing reunion shows on and off. But this album is the first of truly new material in years.
Catching Up With The Jesus Lizard…
“None of us really stopped playing,” guitarist Duane Denison shares, “but we stopped making the Jesus Lizard albums. And I think [the time apart] gave us a chance to have a lot of ideas and energy, that’s just sort of backed up—and now it’s coming out.”
If you were expecting a scandal or some kind of band drama, then you will be sorely disappointed. Nothing catastrophic happened to The Jesus Lizard, they just… stopped being a band for a while.
But back in the day, the band was a force to be reckoned with, often taking on tours with just about anyone. Built To Spill and Afghan Whigs have clearly become friends of the band over the years. But they really had no peers during the heyday.
The Jesus Lizard’s fury carried on through six studio albums, two live recordings and a brace of singles and EPs. Yet none of the cultural emissaries of the last few generations came close to matching the quartet’s sweat equity (literal, psychic).
When America was in its ‘90s “Alternative Nation” thrall, it looked like greater things were going to happen for them: The band shared a split-single with Nirvana (a 1993 release pairing “Puss” from the 1992 Liar LP with a new track from the Seattle contingent, “Oh, The Guilt”) and surfed on the checkbook of Capitol Records for two releases.
This record contract became a blessing and a curse, like so many other bands of the era have experienced. If a label does not see you as a front-runner, they will often put you on the back burner when it comes to promo and concerts.
But by 1996, the realities of real-life capitalism and music-biz treachery kicked in hard: McNeilly resigned from behind the kit; Capitol paid them not to record a third album just prior to dropping them from the roster; and Yow announced his resignation from the band immediately afterward. The Jesus Lizard were effectively over before the turn of the century.
“The four of us had been through so much as a band,” says McNeilly, whose departure in 1998 is acknowledged by the other three as the beginning of the band’s dissolution.
“We are bonded by the music we make, and also by the respect we have for each other. I think that we just function extremely well not only as a band, but as humans who care deeply for one another. If any one of us gets taken out of the equation, it’s just not going to be the same.”
The Jesus Lizard went out on a high note, still in their prime. Since then, the members scattered all over the country with various business ventures and other musical projects.
But they got back together, often doing “reenactment shows” and tribute gigs. This kept the idea of the band constantly in the minds of the members. Suddenly, some riff ideas started to spawn…
“Duane asked me, ’What do you think of that?’ And I said, ‘Oh, that’s pretty good. What are you going to do with that?’ Yow recalls. “And he says, ‘I don’t know. Why don’t we use it for the new Jesus Lizard record, for f*ck’s sake?’ I genuinely love the other three guys. They’re good at what they do. And so I went, ‘Alright, well, let’s go ahead and write a record.’”
So that’s where we got the idea for Rack. The ideas just kept coming, and the band took it in stride. The Jesus Lizard hit the studio with these fresh ideas for the first time in decades.
Recording The Album
With the tragic loss of Steve Albini, the band went to Paul Allen to produce the album. You will not be hearing anything “new” per se, and the band did that on purpose.
“What I like about the album is there are deliberately things on here that, sonically and stylistically, are not terribly different from some of the things we did from the ‘90s,” says Denison.
“There are definitely some references to the past, but it’s more as a point of departure: We don’t stay there and there are other things that are new that we’ve never done. I felt like it would be a mistake not to reference our past stuff.”
You could say that this is a safe move for The Jesus Lizard, but the tracks on this album are a departure from their previous material in a lot of ways. The production is a little cleaner, and it is a no-nonsense album. One thing is for sure, the album is intense.
“We had to do something different along with that. But not crazy different, not self-consciously different. Just naturally different because we’re at a different point in our lives.” says Denison.
“I feel like we had a reputation among musicians that was very, very strong,” says Sims about the Jesus Lizard’s reputation as your favorite band’s favorite band. “We wanted to play shows because we wanted to, which is also exactly how the album worked out. We literally only made the record because we thought it would be fun to make the record. And I think that’s what saved us. “
This created an environment that was zero pressure for the members. Bring your ideas to the table, regardless of the style, and see if it works. I think this let the band just be themselves in the studio, albeit with much more life experience than before.
Wrapping Up: Rack Em Up…
The Jesus Lizard has not changed one bit, not really. But the album still sounds fresh and new here in 2024. Maybe because it has been so long since we have heard raw musical authority like this album offers.
If you were a fan like I was, back in the day, you can jump right into this album and feel like it is 1996 all over again. But don’t get me wrong, Rack is not just a cheap nostalgia kick.
If anything, this album is a breath of fresh air. In a world where every album is quantized to perfection and made almost robotic, this album shows that bands can still make something profound and powerful.
If you can see the band live, absolutely do it! Surely age has caught up with the band, as it does with us all. But the band still puts on an intense show that will remind you of a time when bands ruled the world.
Tour Dates
September 26 Cincinnati, OH Bogart’s
September 28 Chicago, IL Warm Love Cool Dreams
October 13 Las Vegas, NV Best Friends Forever Music Festival
October 31 Dallas, TX Longhorn Ballroom
November 1 Austin, TX Levitation / The Far Out Lounge
December 9 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
December 11 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Steel
December 12 Boston, MA Roadrunner
December 13 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
December 14 Washington, DC Black Cat
December 15 Washington, DC Black Cat
December 18 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
January 7 Glasgow, UK QMU
January 8 Manchester, UK Academy 2
January 9 Leeds, UK Brudenell Social Club
January 10 Bristol, UK The Fleece
January 11 London, UK Electric Ballroom
January 12 Brighton, UK Concorde 2
January 14 Belfast, UK The Limelight
January 15 Dublin, IE Button Factory
January 16 Dublin, IE Button Factory
May 2 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
May 3 Los Angeles, CA The Fonda Theatre
May 5 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
May 8 Portland, OR Revolution Hall
May 10 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre
May 11 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre
David Yow: Vocals
Duane Denison: Guitar
David Wm. Sims: Bass
Mac McNeilly : Drums
Produced by Paul Allen
Engineered by Paul Allen
Mix Engineer: Mark Lonsway
Assistant Mix Engineer: Paul Allen
Mastering: Howie Weinberg
Assistant Engineer: Morgan Stratton, Mark Lonsway
Recorded at Audio Eagle – Nashville, TN
Mixed at Big Twin Studio and Warner Chappell Production Studio – Nashville, TN
