Teenage Jesus and the Jerks (w/ Thurston) @ ATP (NBC)
 

ATP Nightmare Before Christmas (curated by Melvins & Mike Patton)
5-7 dec - Minhead - UK

The first band formed by vocalist/guitarist/provocateur Lydia Lunch, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks were the center of New York's short-lived no wave movement. Cacophonous, confrontational, and fiercely inaccessible, Teenage Jesus generally played ten- to 15-minute shows, never released a full-length album, and disbanded after a relatively brief existence. Even so, they were instrumental in laying the groundwork for the noise rock movement of the '80s, and their work still sounds as forbidding and uncompromising as anything their spiritual followers recorded. Born Lydia Koch in Rochester, NY, Lunch founded Teenage Jesus & the Jerks in 1977 when she was just 16. Initially, the group included saxophonist James Chance (who soon left to form the Contortions), Japanese bassist Reck, and drummer Bradley Field. In 1978, Reck returned to Japan and was replaced by Gordon Stevenson; thus constituted, the trio recorded four tracks with producer Brian Eno for the 1978 compilation No New York, the seminal no wave document. By 1979, when the band issued a couple of EPs on the Lust/Unlust label, bassist/percussionist Jim Sclavunos had joined the group; however, they disbanded by the end of the year, as Lunch moved on to other projects.

After performing two small New York shows earlier this year, this will be their first European show in 30 years, a ‘Re-Animation’ of the band featuring Lydia Lunch, original bass player Jim Sclavunos (Bad Seeds) on drum and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) on bass.

my ring tone of my mobile phone is the "red alert"...and it's fun when it plays on the library or in the church everybody got scared.
try to ear teenage in a dark small room, Lydia is waiting for you with a beautiful chainsaw...

Thurston with the Teenage Jesus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqMr7...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq3iI9ElWM8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMDrVqnqDLk

mine was avril's "girlfriend" and it startled people too.

This has to be the suckiest band reformation ever. The one-off thing for the No Wave book was understandable, but this is kinda like a circus freakshow... Come see the mad woman screaming. Is Lydia really that desperate for money?

I agree with this, especially in the light of her saying for years how much she disrespects rock music in general. I'd prefer her to do her more jazz/loungecore stuff to be honest, as that's where her heart really is. And besides, I'd rather listen to the original recordings at home.

Having said that (and naturally contradicting myself once again), I probably will pop my head round to see them when I'm at ATP. I suspect that much like myself, you tend to feel that "reformation" shows are becoming increasingly irrelevant, no matter who the band/artist involved is. There way too much stuff happening NOW to keep up with, so why both keep looking back to the past for music?

Let's face it. . . almost anything is going to scare people.