After initially calling it a day in 1999, the Jesus Lizard officially return full time to save us from the current state of musical mediocrity with their latest album, Rack. A blistering resurgence of the so-called ‘noise rock’ they helped define alongside contemporaries Big Black, Flipper, The Birthday Party, with their previous and most noted albums Head, Goat and Liar. For those of us who live in fear of the reunion album and subsequent tour, the Jesus Lizard thankfully display not only the same chaotic and dark nihilism of their earlier careers but also the maturity and seasoning of a band riding a wave of renewed and reinvigorated form.
Once slated by famed engineer Steve Albini as “the greatest band I’ve ever seen’ the Jesus Lizard not only lived up to this lofty praise in their prime but continue to do so in their advancing years. David Yow still leads the charge as the maniacally possessed frontman entering crowds with reckless abandon and a stamina that much younger vocalists would kill for. The original rhythm section of David Wm Sims and Mac McNeilly further continue to prove why they were and are the best bass & drum combo since Jones and Bonham, anchoring the ship as Captain Yow and first mate Denison navigate the wild seas of their songs. And while he may not always feature (as he rightly should) on many modern music journalists ‘best guitarists lists’, Duane Denison could perhaps be the most innovative and idiosyncratic punk rock guitarist EVER. However, each member is a sum of their parts but combined they are as Albini also once said “the purest melding of the sublime and profane.”
Whether you are a longtime disciple of the Jesus Lizard, seeing them when last here in ‘98, or perhaps your fandom is more recent and have only seen videos of their legendary live performances, you will know that these shows are not to be missed.
Saturday 11th October 2025 - The Tuning Fork, Auckland (All ages)
Sunday 12th October 2025 - San Fran, Wellington (R18 unless accompanied by your legal guardian)
Bio
In the jade-cultivating climes of online rock journalism, the angle of “band has new album,” is about as interesting as watching Instagram reels of your brother-in-law’s recent bathroom remodel. But when a band decides to follow up their last album from over 26 years ago? That’s high on testicular fortitude and as dumb as fidget spinners. Yet, when that band is the Jesus Lizard, everything in your pathetic cultural dystopia suddenly falls away and the air smells like Heaven… Their seventh studio album, Rack, produced by
Paul Allen, and slated for release on September 13 via Ipecac Recordings, features 11 tracks of brisk guitar rock you haven’t heard since… the last time the Jesus Lizard took over a stage in your town. The Jesus Lizard — vocalist David Yow, guitarist Duane
Denison, bassist David Wm. Sims, and drummer Mac McNeilly — have returned with a record teeming with the kind of madness needed to beat down today’s AOR mediocrity and piss-perfect pop drivel alike.
Since their inception in Chicago in 1987, the Jesus Lizard has thrilled audiences all over the planet. The impeccable rocket-thrust rhythm section of Sims and McNeilly was the perfect launchpad for Denison’s jagged yet clean-toned riffing and Yow’s mercurial
vocalizations manifesting as everything from panicked citizen, reality escapee or wounded sea mammal. The Jesus Lizard’s fury carried on through six studio albums, two live recordings and a brace of singles and EPs.
On Rack, the Jesus Lizard have returned reconstituted, refreshed and positively revving. No tepid, bland tracks to show how they’ve “matured” as songwriters. No inane detours into unnecessary genre exercises. And definitely no weird moves into
experimental realms that come off just as contrived and calculated as the top of the Billboard Charts. The opening salvo “Hide & Seek” finds Yow singing/sprechstimming his way with remarkable clarity as his bandmates shore him up with their patented
acceleration. The noir vibes coming off of “What If?” is a startling direction for the band, with Yow narrating the action, like he was looking at a random person in an airport lounge and concocting an elaborate backstory about them. The sinister “Alexis Feels
Sick” is inspired by Girls Against Boys/Soulside drummer Alexis Fleisig’s guarded opinion of modern life that turns into a treatise of man’s inhumanity to man. “Moto(R)” is playing out of the coolest car tailgating in the parking lot at one of those horrific radio
rock fests. And while we’re on the subject of forcing cool into uncool, “Falling Down” reminds all of us in slightly under three-and-a-half minutes how marvelously badassed the Jesus Lizard have always been, making our fists ball-up so tightly they look like the ends of chicken bones.
The Jesus Lizard. They might not be young, but they will never, ever get fucking old.
San Fran holds a Supervised License, meaning minors are welcome to attend events at San Fran so long as they are accompanied by a legal guardian at all times whilst at the venue. Minors are of course not allowed to purchase alcohol under any circumstance.
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