Duane Denison (born January 21, 1959) is an American guitarist best known for work with the avant-garde rock band

The Jesus Lizard The Jesus Lizard is an American rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas and based in Chicago, Illinois. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground… hoturned out a series of independent records filled with ...

. He is also a founding member of super-group

Tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Eur ...

Biography

Denison began his musical career by studying classical guitar at Eastern Michigan University. His work with classical guitar helped influence his unique sound, which helped earn him a spot on Spin Magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." "Denison has played warped jazz-rock with Firewater, cool jazz with the Denison-Kimball Trio, experimental alt-metal with Tomahawk, rockabilly punk with Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, and outlaw country with Hank Williams III. But the angular, metallic sheets of noise that Denison unleashed with the Jesus Lizard are what he’ll ultimately be remembered and revered for. Tightly controlled yet capable of ripping and tearing like a runaway chainsaw, Denison’s riffs influenced an entire generation of post-hardcore guitarists, including the burgeoning wave of noise-punkers like the Men and Roomrunner.” In 1999 Denison moved to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

after The Jesus Lizard broke up in order to play with

Hank Williams III Shelton Hank Williams (born December 12, 1972), known as Hank Williams III, is an American musician, singer and multi-instrumentalist, known for his unique fusion of traditional country music, rockabilly, heavy metal and punk rock. He was the ...

's "Damn Band. Soon after his move to Nashville Denison began collaborating and exchanging demo tapes with

Mike Patton Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, producer, film composer and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Faith No More. Noted for his vocal proficiency, diverse singing techn ...

, whom he met at a Mr. Bungle show in 1999. Denison started the demos on a 4 track tape machine and sent them to Patton who added vocals to the tapes and sent them back. After having a solid idea of what the songs should sound like they went into the studio and recorded what would become the first Tomahawk album which was released in 2001. Denison and ex- Ministry bassist

Paul Barker Paul Gordon Barker (born February 8, 1959), also referred to as Hermes Pan, is the former bass guitarist, producer and engineer of the industrial metal band Ministry from 1986 to 2003. Prior to Ministry, Barker provided bass for the Seattle po ...

collaborated in 2007 to form a new band, U.S.S.A. U.S.S.A. released one album in that same year, titled '' The Spoils''. From late 2008 until 2012, he played guitar for Nashville-based

Legendary Shack Shakers The Legendary Shack Shakers (originally Those or Th' ) are an American rock band from Murray, Kentucky that was formed in 1995 by J.D. Wilkes. The original line-up formed the band out of a shared interest in rockabilly, blues and Western swing ...

. Denison supplied the lead guitars on EmptyMansions snakes/vultures/sulfate released on April 2, 2013.

Discography

References

Living people American rock guitarists American male guitarists Firewater (band) members Post-hardcore musicians Noise rock musicians Pigface members 1959 births Tomahawk (band) members The Jesus Lizard members 20th-century American guitarists Silver Jews members Legendary Shack Shakers members Assjack members 20th-century American male musicians The Denison/Kimball Trio members {{US-rock-guitarist-stub