#mac mcneilly

[ushatpomoyev]

got inspired after seeing the goofy ahh mv for puss

[evil-wawe-form]

Listen/purchase: Hide & Seek by The Jesus Lizard

[spilladabalia]

the Jesus Lizard "Alexis Feels Sick"

[thebowerypresents]

The Jesus Lizard Cut Loose at Brooklyn Steel

The Jesus Lizard – Brooklyn Steel – December 11, 2024

The Jesus Lizard are a band that only resurrects every once in a while, so it’s worth noting that vocalist David Yow looks well these days. He’s got a goatee that gives him an air of distinction. He’s also still got youthful vigor, in a toddler-still-learning-to-walk kind of way. “It’s nice to see your beautiful smiling faces, I want to stick my dick in every mouth I see,” were his first words of the night. One song in and Yow was crowd-surfing deep into the audience. His jacket was off by the second song, his shirt fully unbuttoned by the fourth. 

“I can swim, I can’t swim,” wailed Yow directly into the faces of the audience, really inches from them, as he crowd-surfed again during “Seasick.” For a man who spends about as much time being carried by a crowd as he does onstage, how many times in his career has he been dropped? One would think somewhere between dozens and hundreds of times. A few songs later, quite unexpectedly, the shirt was rebuttoned. “Thank you, New Jersey,” said Yow to some chuckles and groans. 

“Nub” had Yow surfing the stage in a vaguely Hawaiian way, floating quite beautifully over the song’s thudding rhythm, asking a recent amputee how he masturbates. The four-piece firing on all cylinders felt like an all-out assault, just as they do on “Hide & Seek,” the lead track on Rack, their first album in 26 years. The rhythm section’s throwing punches, Duane Denison’s guitar cutting like a knife. 

Yow can sound like both the assailant and the victim, sometimes at the same time. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice guy, I like him just fine / But he’s a mouth breather,” he snarled on “Mouth Breather.” The song takes its refrain from a quote from the late Steve Albini about Slint drummer Britt Walford, delivered by Yow with equal parts bark and bite. Another song ended with him still held up in the middle of the audience. “Well, I’ll just stay here for a while. Could I get a margarita?” But then he changed his mind: “Just let me down and I’ll fucking walk, OK? I’m serious.”

“This is the last song, and we’ll never see you … again,” said Yow before returning for their encore. “I hope you have a wonderful holiday season here in the United States of Fucked Up.” Before a few more songs, "Thank you very much, we'll see you in Boston tomorrow,” repeated Yow a few times, and another lie, as the band returned for a second encore. The night came with many tales of unexpected resurrection, which is something you should ask your doctor about if it lasts longer than four hours. —Dan Rickershauser | @D4nRicks

(The Jesus Lizard play Roadrunner in Boston tonight.)

(The Jesus Lizard play Union Transfer in Philadelphia tomorrow.)

Photos courtesy of Edwina Hay | thisisnotaphotograph.com

@thesearenotphotographs

[rainingmusic]

The Jesus Lizard - Monkey Trick

[spilladabalia]

the Jesus Lizard "Cost Of Living"

[spilladabalia]

the Jesus Lizard "Hide & Seek"

[spilladabalia]

The Jesus Lizard - Seasick