The Austin Lounge Lizards have been performing satirical folk music in Austin and around the US and Canada for 27 years. The Lizards have become the darlings of activist groups, who have relied on their songwriting talents to parody subjects such as abuses of the pharmaceutical industry, media conglomerates, health care and more. Their recording of Irving Berlin's "C-U-B-A" was featured in Michael Moore's most recent movie, "Sicko."
The Austin Lounge Lizards have delighted audiences from Texas to California, from Canada to the U.K., with their inventive style of satirical folk, country and bluegrass. Based in Austin, Texas, since they formed in 1980, the Lizards have honed their music into a knife-sharp art form.
Trademarks of a Lizards song are highly literate, sharply pointed lyrics that poke fun at politics, love, religion and the culture in general. For example, among the songs on their latest CD, "The Drugs I Need", are the title song and four others commissioned by Consumers Union and other advocacy groups. The Lizards tackle the pharmaceutical industry, health insurance, big media and big oil, and excessive credit card debt (a touching duet entitled "Xmas Time for Visa" with guest vocalist Tish Hinojosa). "The Drugs I Need" is the Lizards most topical album yet.
The Lizard musical style features precise four- and five-part vocal harmonies and instrumental mastery, particularly from Conrad Deisler on guitar, Korey Simeone on fiddle and mandolin, and Tom Pittman on banjo, dobro, and pedal steel guitar. Rounding out the group are Hank Card on rhythm guitar and Boo Resnick on bass. Lizard arrangements often include harmonies and instrumental parts that are themselves a spoof of the conventions of bluegrass, country, rock, and pop music. So it's no surprise that the group counts among its influences Frank Zappa, George Jones, Spike Jones, Flatt & Scruggs, Tom Lehrer, and Steve Goodman.
The Austin Lounge Lizards grew out of the songwriting relationship between Hank Card and Conrad Deisler, who met when they were history majors at Princeton University and started writing songs together in 1976. Eventually Card, an Oklahoman, and Deisler, a Texan, ended up at the University of Texas law school together, when they hooked up in 1980 with banjo and steel guitar player Tom Pittman, who had the right academic credentials (a degree in philosophy from the University of Georgia). Originally playing Austin and Texas dates while keeping day jobs as varied as bailiff, construction foreman and administrative law judge, the band has been touring nationally since 1987.
Joining the band later were Boo Resnick, a Detroit native with a degree in history from the University of Michigan, and Korey Simeone, an Idaho native who recently fiddled in the Asylum Street Spankers. His background in music includes classical, swing, mariachi and German hip-hop.
The music of the Austin Lounge Lizards is played on bluegrass and Americana-themed radio shows as well as some of the more "in the know" independent radio stations. The band has appeared at festivals and in concert across the U.S., in Canada, and in the U.K. They have been featured in NPR's Morning Edition, and on the radio programs Mountain Stage and E-Town. "The Drugs I Need" is the Lizards' 10th CD and their second on the Houston-based Blue Corn label.
Here's a delightful little blurb from "Relish Now" a music and culture publication from North Carolina: LIZARD TALES: The Austin Lounge Lizards have been making music for 25 years, earning a reputation for slaughtering sacred cows. The band - a showroom of tropical shirts - has released nine albums, all dedicated to satirically skewering politics, love, religion and whatever passes for culture.
And from the Austin American Statesman: These Lizards do More Than Lounge Around Austin The Austin Lounge Lizards might have a local flavor and name, but the group has performed in venues across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Their style is based on both satire and folk as they mix famous Texas country sounds with biting lyrics. The Austin Lounge Lizards cleverly bring out the humor in subjects ranging from politics to religion to love, an ability made clear on their most recent release, "The Drugs I Need."
