The Jesus Lizard Week celebrating the release of BOOK continues with drummer Mac McNeilly. Here, Mac and I discuss some background on how BOOK came together, how it taught him more about his bandmates, the bond forged within the band through years of working and living together, his special relationship with David Yow and how Yow was heartbroken when Mac left the band, the book’s emphasis on interests that musicians might appreciate more than others but Mac’s belief that non-playing fans have just as much insight about the Jesus Lizard as anyone else, how the band were serious musicians but not serious people, Mac’s take on the David Wm. Sims/Steve Albini dynamic and why Sims says Shot is the best album released by the band, how the term “legitimacy” might be ascribed to the band’s 10-year run in the 90s where they went from underground heroes to “major label sell-outs,” why the band felt compelled to make decisions that sustained them as adults with families, how the cultural climate seems to have softened when it comes to notions of credibility, how the band’s ‘re-enactment tour’ went, how it’s possible the band was better than ever in 2009 and that the tour wasn’t based in any nostalgia, whether or not the band explored new song ideas or might in the future, never saying never, Mac’s interest in some footage of the band playing in Chicago in 2009, his current, respective musical projects with people from Butthole Surfers, Machines of Loving Grace, Stabbing Westward, and more and how he’s been pushing his comfort zone as a player, that time Mac was struck by lightning and thrown 20 feet into the air, and that’s it.
Related links: akashicbooks.com/catalog/the-jesus-lizard-book/ vishkhanna.com
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