The Jesus Lizard Book

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

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Physical Properties

Description

A coffee table book of exclusive photography, art and other imagery with written pieces by all four members of the seminal indie rock band. The layout is stylish and elegant and includes many Polaroids by David Wm. Sims, a delicious recipe by David Yow, a concise list of every show The Jesus Lizard played and writings by the three producers who recorded the band: Steve Albini, Andy Gill and Garth Richardson. The book includes biographic material of each member from childhood to the demise of the group. Other contributors include Mike Watt, Alexander Hacke and Steve Gullick.

Reviews

Crawling out of the same noisy, punk and hardcore indie underground of the early 1980s, Dinosaur Jr. and the Jesus Lizard took somewhat similar paths on the road to becoming two of the most influential bands of their generation...Now the two bands have something else in common: books. Two beautiful volumes, The Jesus Lizard Book (Akashic) and Rocket 88's Dinosaur Jr. scrapbook...Both are loving tributes to two very unique bands.
--Flavorwire

Book is pretty much the sort of thing you would want from any band you adore: thoughtful, articulate comments from all of the players, short essays, some only a few lines, from various folks who knew or worked with them and a ton of excellent photos.
--Austin American-Statesman

The Jesus Lizard Book by The Jesus Lizard (out now). Much like Dinosaur Jr., the band has created a detailed, full-color hardcover for its fans. And as a bonus, members are reuniting to promote it at South by Southwest and elsewhere.
--Pensacola News Journal

Imagine a round table discussion with the Jesus Lizard in a dark bar drinking all afternoon, listening to all the war stories.
--BeatRoute Magazine

Book is FULL of cool shit: silly pictures, lots of stories, full band member auto-bios, and the band's narrative.
--The Stranger Slog

The only way to truly do this band justice in book form is with exactly the kind of energetic and engaging visual weight that Book provides.
--KGB Bar Lit Magazine

There is finally a book that captures the godhead megalithic monstrosity that was the Jesus Lizard....know this is going to be one of my favourite books of all-time.
--The HuffPost Music (Canada)

The deluxe coffee-table book about The Jesus Lizard that we can't believe exists.
--Oregon Public Broadcasting/NPR

The big, beautiful Jesus Lizard Book...delivers a fun, albeit wild ride fans are sure to enjoy thoroughly.
--BookPeople Blog

Book suits the Jesus Lizard as well as, say, The Dirt suits Mtley Cre....Everyone I know loves the Jesus Lizard, and all those same folks are going to love Book.
--Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches

Stunning new work of popular culture historiography...The Jesus Lizard Book is a work of art, and it should be treated as such.
--Alibi.com

It's less a compendium of traditional rock band hedonism and more of an example of how things can be done right.
--Stand Up, Hippy!

Author Bio

The Jesus Lizard (1988-1999) hailed from Chicago by way of Austin, Texas. They released seven records on the independent record label Touch and Go, and a few more on different major labels. Many have called them the best live band of the 1990s. Unlike most of their contemporaries, the Jesus Lizard managed to create a beast, an entirely autonomous being, an entity who outgrew and is very likely to also outlive their makers. While each and every personality in the group is an integral part of its mentality and thus ultimately irreplaceable, it is the rapport and friction between them which makes the music possible, allows it to blossom and eventually break free. It was not just David Wm. Sims's monolithic basslines, but the stance he took in order to deliver them. Like a sailor manning a raft through a storm at high sea, he took position at stage right and pounded away at his instrument--stoic, reliable, and unwavering. Mac McNeilly's drumming didn't merrily serve as a time-giver, but as a display of unrestrained energy and a joyously bouncing, good-natured spirit. Somersaulting patterns and probability-defying breaks were stacked on top of one another, made to tumble and fall only to be caught again, as if a boxer was juggling dishes while pummeling an already delirious opponent. Duane Denison shaped his guitar work like a taxidermist dissecting a puppy. With cruel precision, he stabbed and sliced and inserted the limbs of chord progressions with bolts and rods and wire, smiling dreamily while his riffs danced around onstage like biomechanical freaks of nature. Then there was the man who is the embodiment of the band's name, the tormented soul thrown about and struggling to withstand the torrent in the tornado of the music: David Yow spilled his insides while he spent most of the shows in, no on the audience, being lifted and carried by the masses, groping and ripping at him, trying to be part, greedily looking to get a piece of the action; he was the ingenious saboteur, the anarchistic oddball in this form of modern theater with the other three serving as the perfect "straight men" to his madness.