Above: The best Venison group shot we could find. See, back in the 1990s, this was as far as photographic technology had progressed. We've really come a long way.

The House of Rock is organizing a tribute show for local music hero Jeff Johnson (who recently passed away), and within the night’s roster of bands, you’ll see something amazing – Venison is getting back together for the gig.

Yep, mind explosions.

For those who don’t know, Venison was one of the area’s biggest bands back in the day (and by “day” we mean the 1990s). This huge news for all the local fans and current rockers who grew up on a steady diet of Venison shows. Local writer Michael Perry recently wrote ...

... but what I always loved about Venison was how they blasted straight through to the gritty heart of working-class Wisconsin. The Wisconsin of tough people working long shifts in mills (go ahead, listen to “Mill Song”) bound to shut down, and maybe they drowned their sorrows with beer, or maybe Jager, or maybe euchre, and sometimes these folks just put their shoulder back to the wheel and said – as we do here – “FORWARD!” But then other times the sense of dead-end despair led to other conclusions entirely, and if the language isn’t perfectly churchly, well, I don’t mind being reminded that life is not always just a big bowl of cheese curds.

– SneezingCow.com, 3-12-2012

The Johnson tribute show is set for May 19 at the House of Rock with $5 donation at the door. The Jim Pullman Band is already on board. More details are on the way ...

In the meantime, check out some old Venison videos. Warning: F-bombs aplenty!