Читать книгу The Jesus Lizard Book - The Jesus Lizard - Страница 16

In the last year or sothat Scratch Acid was together, it felt like we were at the brink of achieving my personal holy grail: being able to make a living playing music. Then the band blew to pieces in May 1987, leaving me at loose ends and depressed about my prospects. It was humbling to have had such a near miss. I went back to the University of Texas that fall and resumed work on an accounting degree. I played with a few bands, but none of them felt like more than an excuse to get together and drink with pals. I reconciled myself to the end of my music career.

In the second half of 1987, Duane approached David Yow about playing bass for a musical project he had in mind. Duane had written the music for several songs, and wanted to record them at a studio where he had some time that was already paid for by his previous band, Cargo Cult. David demurred, pointing out that he wasn’t much of a bass player, and suggested that he sing instead, and that Duane get me to play bass. Duane came over to the apartment where David and I lived on Franklin Boulevard and played the songs for us, while I figured out bass lines on an acoustic guitar and programmed the drum patterns that Duane suggested into my Roland 707 drum machine. I was impressed by Duane’s musicianship.

We rehearsed a few times in Austin. Duane knew of a house in East Austin where the tenants had moved out without telling anyone, so the electricity was still on. We showed up at the empty house and let ourselves in. I recorded live versions of the songs on cassette with a little Sony boom box. I liked the songs. It was good to be excited about music again. It seemed like just a project, though, and no reason to think I shouldn’t keep working on my accounting degree.

Meanwhile, Rey Washam, the drummer in Scratch Acid, had gone to Chicago to start a band with Steve Albini. I knew Albini from the couple of times he had set up shows in Chicago for Scratch Acid and let us crash on the floor at his apartment in Rogers Park. Plus, I was a fan of the Big Black records. He and Rey were looking for a bass player, so Rey got in touch and asked if I’d be interested in moving to Chicago to play with them. It was an exciting offer. I knew both of those guys were talented, and that the band would automatically get to go to Europe and release records, if only on Albini’s reputation. This would be, at last, the band I could earn a living from. Also, I’d just come through an ugly and disheartening end of a relationship, and getting out of Austin seemed like a way to put it behind me. (To varying degrees, the unhappy ends of relationships played a role in moving to Chicago for all four members of the Jesus Lizard.)

They were going to call the band Rapeman. It was an unconscionably stupid name. It bothered me a lot, more than I had the guts to say at the time, but I couldn’t walk away from the opportunity to get back into a real touring rock band. I made a cynical calculation, swallowed my pride, and decided to give Chicago a try. In my musical career, it is the only decision of which I am genuinely ashamed.

In December 1987, I flew to Chicago with my Memphis bass, and lived on Albini’s couch for a few months while the three of us tried playing as a band. Things seemed to be working out, so the following April I went back to Austin and packed my things into my Subaru station wagon. David Yow, also looking for a change of scenery, threw his stuff in the car, and we headed for the Midwest.

DAVID WM. SIMS