Austin post-hardcore/noise rock legends The Jesus Lizard are about to play their first shows since the pandemic this week, and now they’ve just announced their first new album in 26 years, Rack, due September 13 via Ipecac. Pre-orders are up now, and we’ve got an exclusive yellow vinyl variant available in the BV shop.
According to an interview the band did with Hank Shteamer for The New York Times, work on the album began in 2019, and they recorded it Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney’s Akron, Ohio studio Audio Eagle with local producer Paul Allen, and as you can hear on lead single “Hide & Seek,” they captured a lot of that same energy that they had on their classic albums made with the late Steve Albini, who vocalist David Yow told NYT he “thought of almost as a fifth member” in the band’s early days. (Albini, as Shteamer points out, referred to The Jesus Lizard as “the best musicians I’ve ever worked with” in 2014’s The Jesus Lizard Book.) In a press release, Yow calls the new song “a perky ditty about a witch who can’t behave, and it’s got nearly as many hooks as a Mike Tyson fight.” Here’s a little more about it from that NYT interview:
In a video interview from his Altadena, Calif., home, with posters for “Taxi Driver,” “Pulp Fiction” and other gritty film classics on the walls, Yow gushed like a proud parent over “Hide and Seek,” the album’s rampaging lead track. “It’s got so many hooks,” the 63-year-old vocalist said, his gray goatee framing a wide grin. He added that he’d gotten in the habit of asking both his bandmates and his wife, with a mixture of irony and wonder, “Have we written a pop song?”
[Guitarist Duane] Denison, 65, was amused and skeptical. “I don’t know what pop music David Yow’s listening to,” he deadpanned during a video interview from the combination library and music room of his Nashville home. “I don’t think Beyoncé or Lil Nas X are going to be jealous.”
[…] “I’d like to think it’s always been this balance between the sophistication” and “the non-sophisticated,” [Denison] said, “just the pure drive and mayhem.”
[Drummer Mac] McNeilly cited the explosive opening of “Hide and Seek,” which sets the tone for what follows.
“It’s almost like, OK, you’re on a ride now,” the drummer said, “and you’re not going to be able to get off.”
The Jesus Lizard’s first show back is at Third Man Records in Nashville on Thursday (6/6), followed by Goldenvoice’s new No Values festival on Saturday (6/8), Garden Amphitheatre with Scowl and Crawlspace on Sunday (6/9), and appearances at the Hopscotch and Best Friends Forever festivals. They also just announced a new string of headlining shows that begin on Halloween in Dallas and run through spring of 2025. All newly-added shows go on sale Friday (6/7) at 10 AM local.
NYC gets a stop on December 11 at Brooklyn Steel, which goes on AmEx presale today (6/5) at noon. All dates are listed below.
Listen to “Hide & Seek” below and pre-order our exclusive yellow vinyl variant in the BV shop. Here’s a mock-up:
Tracklist
1. Hide & Seek
2. Armistice Day
3. Grind
4. .What If?
5. Lord Godiva
6. Alexis Feels Sick
7. Falling Down
8. Dunning Kruger
9. Moto(R)
10. Is That Your Hand?
11. Swan the Dog
The Jesus Lizard — 2024 Tour Dates
June 6 Nashville, TN Third Man Records
June 8 Pomona, CA No Values
June 9 Garden Grove, CA Garden Amp
September 7 Raleigh, NC Hopscotch Music Festival
October 13 Las Vegas, NV Best Friends Forever Music Festival
October 31 Dallas, TX Longhorn Ballroom
November 1 Austin, TX TBA
December 9 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
December 11 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Steel
December 12 Boston, MA Roadrunner
December 13 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
December 14 Washington, DC Black Cat
December 18 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
January 7 Glasgow, UK QMU
January 8 Manchester, UK Academy 2
January 9 Leeds, UK Brudnell Social Club
January 10 Bristol, UK The Fleece
January 11 London, UK Electric Ballroom
January 12 Brighton, UK Concorde 2
January 14 Belfast, UK The Limelight
January 15 Dublin, IE Button Factory
May 2 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern
May 3 Los Angeles, CA The Fonda Theatre
May 5 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
May 8 Portland, OR Revolution Hall
May 10 Seattle, WA Neptune Theatre
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Top photo: The Jesus Lizard at Irving Plaza in 2017 by P Squared. More here.