It wasn’t that long ago that David Wm Sims was one of the key players in the rise of noise rock in the late '80s and early '90s. Along with Dave Yow, he formed Scratch Acid in Austin in 1983, a band with deeply depraved songs full of fire and brimstone that still managed to find pop hooks, winning over, among others, Kurt Cobain. After a move to Chicago, he would meet up with fellow noise evangelist Steve Albini, and after a brief stint in Albinu’s controversial band the Rapemen, Sims was back with Yow, guitarist Duane Denison, and drummer Mac McNeilly in forming the Jesus Lizard, which some still see as the perfection of the noise rock trend that began in the '80s.
After the band’s 1999 breakup, Sims has been living in New York, using the accounting degree he earned while still with the Jesus Lizard for the past 10 years. I caught up with Sims at Pitchfork Music Festival on Friday, hours before the Jesus Lizard’s featured set.
You’ve been an accountant in New York for the past 10 years. Have you kept up the music in any way?
David Wm Sims: A little bit. Mostly just recording stuff by myself, sometimes, depending on whoever’s around. I’m kinda looking for something…I’m unemployed now, so I’m a recovering accountant. I’d like to get some kind of new project going. Lately I haven’t had time to think about it yet.
You had a ton of devoted fans in the '90s. What do you think will happen to those fans 10 years later?
DWS: I don’t know how many will come back. Obviously some fans have moved on with their lives, which I totally understand. When we’ve done these shows there’s been a fair number of people from back in the day. We’ve gotten some really great responses from fans. And I see a ton of kids there, kids that are obviously not old enough that they were in on it the first time. They seem to be having a great time, so that’s pretty great.
Yeah, I think while I’m someone who’s inclined to look at music from the past, I have friends who go to concerts now who haven’t even heard of Fugazi.
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