LéZARD

England had/has Stiff Records, Creation, Factory and Rough Trade. Quality labels that, for years, provided us with a new poster on the wall every week, without asking for much more than the price of their records. Time to give something back, and today, fifty years after Stiff’s first release, we dare to state loud and proud that, with Mayway Records, we have finally built our own trusted home. ‘We’ – that’s Tony Vandenbogaerde, because we ourselves have actually had little to do with it. After Meskerem Mees, Heisa, Meltheads, The Haunted Youth, Dressed Like Boys (!) and Ão (!), you might think: the well from which Mayway draws its bucketful of fresh talent has by now almost run dry, but then you haven’t heard their latest sensation, LÉZARD. Lézard, with the accent on the E, is the sort of band you go to see with an open mind, only to find yourself shouting something in English like ‘Bloody hell’ after three minutes, followed by forty-five mad minutes of intense speechlessness. The LP “Que se passe t-il” (2026) is so brilliant that we promptly drove to the shop to stock up on a few boxes of Maxell cassettes, to record the album and then send it to Melody Maker, NME, Sounds, Rolling Stone or Mojo. Until we realised that our cassette recorder had given up the ghost, sometime in 1997. In any case, to emphasise just how exceptional this is: with their sound, Lézard transport us back to 1982 New York, where Talking Heads, ESG, Liquid Liquid, The Contortions and a young Madonna were setting the tone. Believe us, the last time we listened to “Que se passe t-il”, we asked Google for David Byrne’s number; surely there’s still room for a young support act when he tours the world again. Tuesday 4 August is the day we’re putting Mayway Records in the spotlight, with their three hottest acts of the moment. Two-thirds of them will be playing on the main stage, whilst Lézard, on the other hand, will be doing what no one has ever done for them before: transforming our Club into a CBGB’s at the Durme for just under an hour.