Reunion Madness: Jesus Lizard For ATP!

A cautionary news item in four parts.

By Fred Mills

"In what has to rank as one of the most unlikely developments in rock..." Thus began the umpteenth email of the morning at BLURT, Inc. But this is a different kind of email....

"The awe-inspiring primal force of the Jesus Lizard will return, briefly, in 2009. The original lineup of David Yow, Duane Denison, David Wm. Sims and Mac McNeilly will reform for a very limited series of live dates in 2009, starting with the All Tomorrows Parties event dubbed The Fans Strike Back in Minehead, UK on May 9 and 10 and ending with a final appearance in Chicago in late November."

Yow! (No pun intended.) It also has to rank as one of the most unlikely coincidences we've had around these parts lately: just yesterday we kicked off the latest BLURT poll - that thing running down the left-hand margin of our homepage - in which we query you, gentle readers, the following: "Band reunions have been all the rage of late - can you spell NKOTB? - and things may hit critical mass (Phish, et al) in 2009. We say feh! Reunions suck, dude! Which of these rumored reunions would you want to personally beg the members NOT to mount?"

The choices were provide you are Pavement, Led Zeppelin w/new frontman, The Kinks, My Bloody Valentine (whoops! too late!), Blink-182, The Smiths, Sublime w/new frontman, Faith No More, Klaatu and Creed w/ANY frontman. Had we known the Lizard was also in the running we surely would have included them in that list, so when you do go to cast your Blurtballot, feel free to submit an additional "write-in" at the comments section of the poll page.

That said, you can bet we'll be on hand for this particular reunion one way or another. Last time we saw Jesus Lizard we were, like, 8 years old and wearing imitation Docs and our older brother's flannel shirt!

More on the Liz:

"These shows will be the Jesus Lizards first since disbanding in 1999 and the first in twelve years to feature the original storied quartet. As anyone who has experienced the Jesus Lizard live can attest, they are one of the most intense and visceral musical assemblies to ever stalk a stage. This fleeting reunion offers an incredible opportunity to either be blown away all over again or to immerse yourself in the sweaty power and driving mayhem for the very first time."

And still more:

"In celebration of this event, Touch and Go Records will reissue four full-length releases from the Jesus Lizard in May 2009. Remastered recordings of Head, Goat, Liar, and Down will be available on both LP and CD, all with expanded packaging and liner notes. Bob Weston is heading up the remastering process with Steve Albini, the original session engineer, sitting in."

Oh, the guilt!

Video for "Nub":