If you'd told me twenty-three odd years ago that someone would take a fancy "retrospective" wade into the spew, sweat, and muck of what was the Jesus Lizard, I woulda' never believed you. Mainly 'cause twenty-three years ago—outside of the underground—no one cared about the underground. But here we are, and the Jesus Lizard have become the subject of their own fucking book. A goddamn HARDCOVER coffee table book that the band put together themselves—giving it a simple, conservative title The Jesus Lizard Book...

...I'm still reading the thing, but fans should be happy, as Book is FULL of cool shit: silly pictures, lots of stories, full band member auto-bios, and the band's narrative. Mostly the text is in mouth-to-page style (thankfully) so the boys recount their own stories as they moved from Scratch Acid, Rapeman, and Cargo Cult to become The Men of the Jesus Lizard. Oh, and there is also a diary of every show they played! I gotta say I'm impressed; and not just with the book itself, but with the fact these yobs would even take a punt at compiling/writing this thing! God knows there can't be much money in this.

It's also a bummer Jesus Lizard has seemingly lost contemporary relevance, 'cause their albums hold up. Maybe they don't rate since they split in '99 just as most of today's "in the know" kids were adjusting to their first year of high school. As I DJ, I've played the entry level JL A-side, "Mouth Breather," for a handful of kids and none of 'em connected. Weened on Nirvana and/or radio pop, what the fuck should I expect; the controlled sonic swell of Jesus Lizard's pointed push and pull perhaps proves too much for doe-eyed millennials. And then there is the legend of the live JL shows... If you ever saw 'em play you'd know why; live they were confrontational chaos teetering just this side of "OH FUCK!" Just like any good band oughta be.

The Jesus Lizard Book went on sale March 4th.