Grunge! The indie-rock of the 90’s. It seems like it was only yesterday I was sporting flannels and wearing combat boots. My hair was bright red and I attempted to grow some facial hair. I was still a skater punk but I was enjoying this new genre of music. Bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam were being played over and over on my cassette walkman. I was trying to find my place in life and for the time being I found it. I started branching out looking for new types of music to listen to. Enter The Jesus Lizard.

The Jesus Lizard was a band that I was a fan of after I was engulfed in the grunge scene. I originally found out about them through a split single CD that featured them and Nirvana (“Puss/Oh The Guilt”). After I heard that song I was an instant fan. Regretfully, I never got to see the band live, but thanks to MVD Visual, I finally get to see what I missed out on fifteen years ago on The Jesus Lizard self-titled DVD.

I might as well give a little history about The Jesus Lizard before I go into detail on the DVD, in case you have no idea who I am talking about. They were around before grunge was even conceived in Seattle, forming in 1987 in Chicago. Their popularity was low key but they have influenced tons of people in their time, such as Brand New, Helmet, and even Nirvana. The Jesus Lizard played Lollapalooza, had a song on the infamous Clerk’s soundtrack, and broke up in 1998. With that said, I was excited to see that The Jesus Lizard had released a DVD.

The featured live footage on The Jesus Lizard DVD was filmed on October 4th, 1994 in a small club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The quality is what you would expect for a show filmed when this DVD was created. The club is full of kids without bouncers standing in front of the stage ruining all the fun. The band wears no costumes and no distortion pedals fill the floor. This was the scene of a typical rock show of the 90’s.

Front man David Yow and crew immediately show the crowd what they are there for when they perform “Destroy By Reading”. Yow’s merciless screaming is applied midway though the song, right about the same time he introduces his body to the tightly packed crowd. Nothing entertains me more than seeing someone at a show fling their body on to the crowd and sing as they surf only to safely be returned back to the stage. By the time “Bloody Mary” starts you can sense the entire band is warmed up and ready to rock out. The fans may not have been going as crazy as the band was just yet, but their eyes were definitely focused front stage.