Green Lizard

GREEN LIZARD is a young and promising band from Holland. After founding the band in the summer of 1994, teen brothers Brian, Willy and Remi Tjon Ajong teamed up with drummer Roela in '95 and bass player Jay in '96. They almost immediately secured themselves of a large and loyal fan base in their hometown Tilburg. Thanks to their enigmatic live shows and extensive touring Green Lizard built up a solid live reputation throughout the Netherlands, confirmed two years later when they won Holland's biggest and most prestigious rock contest, 'De Grote Prijs Van Nederland'. Instead of going for instant succes by chasing a record deal with a major, Green Lizard decided to do things at their own pace. After a series of shows in France, Green Lizard, independent, obstinate and determined as ever, decided to send their live demos to American producer Jack Endino, renowned for his work with bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden. Endino liked the Green Lizard material so much, he immediately agreed to produce their first independent release, 'THE NINE EP'. This EP, recorded in no more than nine days, stands out because of the solid, heavy and mature punk-grunge sound. The artwork contains original cartoon-like drawings designed by the bands multi-talented singer Remi. Being a student in computer-imaging and animation at the School of Arts in Utrecht (Holland), it is no surprise that Remi also designed and directed the fantastic animated video for 'Turn Around', the first single from their first full album 'IDENTITY'. The result was hailed in Holland as the most exciting video since Radiohead's 'Paranoid Android'. This video won the Golden Cow Award (Holland Animation Festival) in the year 2000. After the release of this single the band played at the two biggest Dutch festivals, Pinkpop and Lowlands. They toured Europe together with the Gathering and sold out several Dutch venues on a combined TMF @lter 8 Live Tour that also featured Krezip and Brainpower. The band finally received national appreciation in 2001, when they were awarded the Silver Harp for 'IDENTITY'. Later that year they joined forces with former Urban Dance Squad drummer Michel Schoots to record a new version of 'Down', a song that was originally released on 'IDENTITY'. Featuring raps by Brainpower and scratches by TLM, the result 'Down 2k1' was immediately hailed by alternative radiostations and stayed on their #1 spot for weeks on end. And now it's time to move on up: 'NEWBORN', the latest GREEN LIZARD album was released in the summer of 2002 in front of a massive audience on Lowlands' main stage. Just like 'IDENTITY', this record was produced by Clif Norrell, known for his work with bands like Faith No More, REM, Skunk Anansie and Jeff Buckley.The album is widely considered as the band's best work yet and features some impressive guest vocals by Henry Rollins. After the release of 2 singles, 'Wrong' and 'Mouthful', the band went on a small promotional tour of the USA in the summer of 2003. During the course of this tour, GREEN LIZARD was invited by Kevin Lyman to play on his VANS WARPED TOUR.