Green Lizard

Green Lizard is a band from Tilburg (The Netherlands) and plays rock and roll, with influences from grunge, punk, hardrock and metal.

Members

Current members

* Remi Tjon Ajong - singer & guitarist
* Brian Tjon Ajong - guitarist
* Jasper Dankaart - drummerhello whats the habitat

Past members

* Jan-Jaap Onverwagt - bassist
* Bram van de Berg (Krezip) - drummer (shows in April 2007)
* Willy Tjon Ajong - guitarist (until January 2005)
* Roeland Uijtdewilligen - drummer (until April 2007)

History

Green Lizard was founded in 1994 and the first big success happened in 1996 when they won the Big Prize of The Netherlands (annual competition for unknown bands to win money and gigs). Late 1997 they brought out "The Nine EP " which was re-released a year later by record label Double T Music which would release their next album as well. This EP was produced by Jack Endino, famous for his work with Nirvana and Soundgarden (to name a few) and was recorded in just 9 days.

In 2000 Green Lizard released their first full length album called "Identity", produced by Clif Norrell (famous for his work with bands like Faith No More and Skunk Anansie). The videoclip for the first single from this album, "Turn Around", won the Golden Cow Award for the animation, made by singer Remi. That same year they played the festival Pinkpop festival, when Moloko couldn’t make it. In 2001 they played the festival again and live recordings were made for a small live EP, which would be released as a separate disc (only at gigs) and as a bonus disc which accompanied the rerelease of "Identity". The second single is "Autumn". The videoclip mocks (boy)bands fabricated by recordlabels. Guesting in the clip are various members of Dutch bands and standup comedy.In 2001 the band received the Silver Harp Award for "Identity". The song "Down" was re-recorded. The new version of the song, called "Down 2K1", featured Dutch rapper Brainpower and DJ TLM, and was released as the third single.

In 2002 their second album was released by Sony Records (Double T music was now a part of Sony), called Newborn. The album was presented to the audience at the Lowlands festival. Again the record was produced by Clif Norrell. Henry Rollins guested on two tracks: on the track "Common God", which appeared on the album and on the track "Die Fucker", which appeared as the b-side to the first single of the album "Wrong".The 4 versions of the second single "Mouthful" were made into a live album.In 2004 their contract with Sony ended and the band went on to write songs for their third album in silence.Various bandmembers went to play music in other projects, like Jaya The Cat and "The Original Soundtrack".In 2005 "Newborn" was released in Europe, with a bonus disc including several clips, movies and songs from "Identity".In January of that year the last show was played with guitarist Willy Tjon Ajong. During an emotional show band and audience said farewell to him. With him the song "Ceilito Lindo" was removed from the sets, as there is no-one that can play the intro to that song quite like him. The show was recorded by Fabchannel and can be viewed online (see external links).

In January 2006, Green Lizard released their third full length album, called "Las Armas Del Silencio". The album was recorded in various places in The Netherlands and was mixed by Clif Norrell in Los Angeles. The album was released by I Scream Records (home of bands like Agnostic Front and Backfire!). The first single, "One Minute", was released before the album and is a split EP with the Belgian Punk band Janez Dedt. Both contribute two songs (the other Green Lizard song being "All You Have"). On May 5 the album was released in Europe and in 2007 the record will be released in the United States. From July the band will be represented by the TKO Agency, which represents bands like Motörhead, Ministry and Life of Agony. This means the band will do shows all around the world, the first of which being the festival Sziget festival. Green Lizard will release a split single with The Gathering with their single "Walk Over Water" especially for this festival.

In march of 2007 drummer Roeland Uijtdewilligen left the band. The physical strain of years of drumming took its toll. He'll continue to play in his folkband We Nun Henk. On April first he played his last show with Green Lizard, where Willy turned up to play a song with them. Jasper Dankaart, formerly of the metalband Aggresion took over from Bram van den Berg (Krezip), who took over temporarly.

The band was on its way to write the next record when in November 2007 bassplay Jay left the band. As a result the band has suspended all current activities and it is unclear at this moment if the band will return.

Green Lizard is well known for their energetic live performances. The band has toured extensively, with bands like The Gathering, Krezip, Brainpower, Aggression, Soda P, The League Of XO Gentlemen, The Riplets, San Andreas and Cooper, and has performed with international acts like Alien Ant Farm, Dredg, Deftones, The Rasmus and Living Colour. They have also played various festivals like Pinkpop, Lowlands, Roskilde, and the Vans Warped Tour.

Discography

Albums

* 2000: Identity
* 2002: Newborn
* 2006: Las Armas Del Silencio

EPs

* 1997: The Nine EP
* 2001: Pinkpop 2001 live EP.
* 2005: One Minute EP (with Belgian punk band Janez Dedt)

ingles

* 2000: Turn Around
* 2001: Autumn
* 2001: Down 2k1
* 2002: Wrong
* 2003: Mouthful
* 2005: One Minute EP (with Belgian punk band Janez Dedt)
* 2006: Walk Over Water
* 2006: Walk Over Water (split single with The Gathering)

External links

* [http://www.green-lizard.com Official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/greenlizard Myspace site]
* [http://www.purevolume.com/greenlizard Purevolume site]
* [http://www.iscreamrecords.com I Scream Records]
* [http://www.fabchannel.com Paradiso show, January 2005 on Fabchannel]
* [http://www.jayathecat.com Jaya The Cat]
* [http://www.theoriginalsoundtrack.nl The Original Soundtrack]