Tag: Steve Albini

Ep. #92: The Jesus Lizard Week with David Wm. Sims

Post author By vish
Post date April 18, 2014

The Jesus Lizard Week celebrating the release of Akashic Books’ BOOK concludes with the band’s ace bassist and principal archivist David Wm. Sims. Here, David and I discuss how BOOK was Johnny Temple of Akashic Books’ idea, how the two Davids in the band spent the most time among members making this book with Henry Owings, Sims’ compulsive penchant for archiving things, being an anti-hoarder, how much he learned about his bandmates via the process of writing this book, Mac McNeilly’s obsession with pranks as a kid, how he and guitarist Duane Denison love hearing technical details from musicians about their work and tried returning the favour in BOOK, his emphasis that he just wanted the book to be cool but has some regrets about stuff that didn’t make the final cut, how he has no idea what the band’s legacy is, how their major label situation had less to do with the band’s demise than another thing, band chemistry, the coincidental nature of dramatic shifts in the band’s history, his relationship with Steve Albini and Steve’s piece in BOOK, Rapeman, David Yow being silly, his doubts about BOOK being the final chapter in the history of the Jesus Lizard, whether or not he misses the band, future releases by the Jesus Lizard, his current musical and vocational interests, and then The Jesus Lizard Week becomes the week that was.

Related links: akashicbooks.com/catalog/the-jesus-lizard-book/ vishkhanna.com

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Tags Akashic Books, BOOK, David Wm. Sims, David Yow, Duane Denison, Henry Owings, Johnny Temple, Mac McNeilly, Rapeman, Steve Albini, tax season, The Jesus Lizard

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Ep. #91: The Jesus Lizard Week with Duane Denison

Post author By vish
Post date April 17, 2014

The Jesus Lizard Week celebrating the release of Akashic Books’ BOOK continues with graceful, eclectic, and powerful guitarist Duane Denison. Here, Duane and I chat about where BOOK came from and why he hoped they could do better than an average rock band bio, how he’d written a lot about the band’s history already when the Jesus Lizard’s catalogue was reissued in 2009 and wanted to ensure he avoided repeating himself, how Duane’s role in creating the book eventually declined due to his touring schedule with Tomahawk, how I’m the only one who seems even vaguely interested in the odd chronological structure of the book, whether he discovered anything about his bandmates via BOOK, how David Yow and Mac McNeilly never married each other, his interest in informing and possibly educating other musicians and talking about the work, how the Jesus Lizard’s audience was very smart but rowdy as hell, the fact that indie or underground music now is more pop-oriented and metal fans are gravitating towards the Jesus Lizard, the backlash after the band left Touch and Go Records for Capitol Records, how the band fought for everything it had and was legitimate, the laughable amount of money the band received and were vilified as sell-outs for, why Steve Albini is given moral high ground when it comes to underground integrity even though he worked with major labels on a regular basis, how Duane is sick of talking about certain things and would like to get going actually, what a ‘re-enactment’ tour really is, what he sees as the future of the Jesus Lizard, the fact that I don’t know of a good album by Magazine, and then it’s all over.

Related links: akashicbooks.com/catalog/the-jesus-lizard-book/ vishkhanna.com

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

Podcast: Download

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Tags Akashic Books, BOOK, Capitol Records, David Wm. Sims, David Yow, Duane Denison, Henry Owings, Mac McNeilly, Magazine, major labels, music lessons, Steve Albini, The Jesus Lizard, Tomahawk, Touch and Go Records, underground music

News Podcast

Ep. #90: The Jesus Lizard Week with Mac McNeilly

Post author By vish
Post date April 16, 2014

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

Listen, subscribe, rate/review on iTunes.

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Tags Akashic Books, BOOK, Butthole Surfers, Drumming, lightning, Mac McNeilly, Machines of Loving Grace, Stabbing Westward, Steve Albini, The Jesus Lizard