By Shannon Murphy and Dan Rozenson
Lead singer David Yow has no problem jumping nude into an unsuspecting crowd of punk rockers while under the influence. The Jesus Lizard was banned from playing in Seattle by the fire marshal after Yow jumped over barricades and security guards into the crowd.
Darlings of the underground, The Jesus Lizard have been together since 1987, with eight albums and two EPs, including “Panic in Cicero” from the Clerks soundtrack and “Then Comes Dudley” from the Amateur soundtrack. While most of their music has been on the Touch and Go label, they have started to unleash their fury on a defenseless universe through Capitol.
Their most recent album, Shot, was released last spring. Bassist David Sims is happy with the album. “It is exactly the album we intended to make,” he said. “We’re still just a loud, agressive rock band but to my ears it sounds much louder and much more aggressive.”
In the past year the band got to play for larger crowds as an opening act for Ministry and Rage Against the Machine. This didn’t intimidate the palooza veterans but they do prefer to play smaller shows. “It’s weird playing for a room full of people who came for someone else. Our own shows are more intense and more The Jesus Lizard thing,” said Sims.
They are presently only semi-touring, said Sims. “This year is probably our second-lowest number of shows since we started the band. We’ve probably played about 100 shows this year but we’ll be looking to do more next year,” he said.
The band will be recording in the spring and preparing for a fall release and more heavy touring. “We’ve been able to support ourselves through the band since 1990, which is fairly early on in the band’s history. That freed up a lot of time by, you know, not having to go to real jobs. So we can do more writing and recording than most people in bands.”
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