Butthole Surfers

Hallelujah!  Holy shit!  The Butthole Surfers are set to release their long shelved 1998 album "After the Astronaut."  Originally intended to be the follow up to "Electric Larryland," the record was rejected by the band's major label and eventually morphed into the admittedly pretty shitty 2001 release "Weird Revolution."  This is the record it was always meant to be, a bunch of weirdos experimenting with new electronic toys to make their version of radio pop.  Check out the video for "Jet Fighter" below and be on the lookout of the album in all forms from Sunset Blvd Records.

Daily Jam - Eindhoven Chicken Masque

Sadly, Halloween season has come to a close.  But now it's Butthole Surfers season.  Here are my favorite insane Texas weirdos with "Eindhoven Chicken Masque," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - A Black Fist

Here's some early '90s scuzzy noise rock from Butthole Surfers drummer and Trance Syndicate label head King Coffey's band Drain.  Listen to "A Black Fist" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Goofy's Concern

Ladies and gentlemen, the Butthole Surfers.  Listen to "Goofy's Concern" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - The Wooden Song

There was this point in the early 90’s, due to the success of Nirvana and the burgeoning punk and alt-rock scenes in the Pacific Northwest, when the major record labels commenced a signing free-for-all, gobbling up all the weird little fringe bands around the nation in the hopes of capitalizing on the next big, alternative hit. Suddenly, bands like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, The Flaming Lips, and more were thrust into the mainstream, these dissonant, eclectic, and peculiar acts getting the kind of attention they never could have imagined while touring the country in shitty vans to play to small rooms of fans. I can’t think of any other time like that within the music industry. And sure, there was many an artist who was chewed up and subsequently spat out by these same major labels, but it also introduced so much good and weird music into the cultural lexicon…which is why your dad knows that there’s a band called The Butthole Surfers.

So, thank you for that record industry.

The fact that a band like The Butthole Surfers, one of the most absurd, noisiest, drug-fueled, and chaotic acts to ever grace our radios, televisions, and performance halls, ended up on Capital Records with a hit song, boggles the mind. These guys spent years in the underground shattering eardrums, torching stages, and ingesting copious amounts of booze, hallucinogens, and narcotics, reveling in this kind of punk rock Dionysian performance art. And then they got signed, and then they worked with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones, and then they had a hit single, and then they were referenced on The Simpsons. When an asshole like Don King says “Only in America,” the prevalence of The Butthole Surfers in the 90’s is what comes to my mind.

It could be a strange and wonderful time.

The band’s 1993 record, Independent Worm Saloon, which I’ve written about before, an album of shredding guitar hooks, bombast, and juvenile delinquent antics, also produced an absolute audio gem for the band, the majestic and Spaghetti Western-indebted “The Wooden Song.” Beginning simply enough with a gently strummed acoustic guitar and plain, sing-songy vocals, the song sways like a minstrel’s ditty, albeit one that’s been dragged through the dust, overexposed, and sunburned, like some psych-tinged Americana for the slacker set. But as the song progresses, the Western elements begin to seep in, blasts of Morricone-inspired surf rock guitars and ominous bell chimes soundtracking some tense showdown or gunfight, a Mexican standoff that no one survives. It’s fantastic. And I’ve never been able to turn it off.

Amid all of the smoke and noise, the nudity and drugs, and the absurdity and mayhem, people sometimes forget that The Butthole Surfers were always capable of creating something more conventionally (but still uniquely) beautiful. And “The Wooden Song” exemplifies that. It is my favorite among an entire career full of favorites, the ugly, catchy, alluring, repulsive, dissonant, cacophonous, and glorious sonic tomes purveyed by a band of Texas weirdos and maniacs.

And all of this happened on a major record label. For a brief moment in time in the 90’s, anything seemed possible.

Listen below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Strangers Die Everyday

I rewatched Richard Linklater's "Slacker" the other day, the first time i've seen the film in probably 20 years, and i completely forgot that the end credits roll with a weird, old Butthole Surfers song playing over them.  "Strangers Die Everyday" has been creeping around in my head ever since.  Check it out below, our Daily Jam.

Psychic Ills & Gibby Haynes

Apparently back in 2010, psych rock band Psychic Ills recorded some material with the Butthole Surfers' Gibby Haynes for RVNG Intl.'s FRKWYS collaborative series.  And now, it's finally seeing the light of day as "FRKWYS Vol. 4.5: Nowhere in the Night."  Check out "Something Like That" below and order the record here.

Daily Jam - The Wooden Song

We're dialing up some Texas artists for our jams this week and starting it off with one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite Texas artists.  Dig on the Spaghetti Western vibes of "The Wooden Song" by Butthole Surfers, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - The Hurdy Gurdy Man

I love that when the Butthole Surfers covered Donovan's "The Hurdy Gurdy Man," they kept things pretty faithful, really just emphasizing the weirder aspects of the song that were already there.  And it just folds into their repertoire perfectly.  Listen below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Who Was in My Room Last Night?

It's my birthday today, so here's The Butthole Surfers with "Who Was in My Room Last Night," our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - I Saw an X-Ray of a Girl Passing Gas

It will never cease to amaze me that in the '90s, a band called Butthole Surfers had a hit single.  Just amazing.  And the thing of it is, that hit single is really, really low on the totem pole in relation to the rest of the band's output.  Case in point: every song on 1988's "Hairway to Steven."  So, here's the cheeky and demented "I Saw an X-Ray of a Girl Passing Gas," our Daily Jam.

The Cocky Bitches

Here's a little piece of scuzzy Austin punk i missed from November by Butthole Surfers guitarist Paul Leary's project The Cocky Bitches.  Crunchy goodness.  Listen to the more subdued "Produce" below and download the "Mercy" album here from Slope Records (vinyl is sold out).

Mastodon and Gibby Haynes

All summer long, i have been excitedly listening to each weekly release from Adult Swim's summer singles series, all the while anxiously awaiting the reported Mastodon/Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers) collaboration.  And now my wait is over.  "Atlanta" sounds about what you expect a Mastodon/Gibby Haynes jam to sound like...hyper, frenetic, screeching magic.  Listen below and download it on Monday.  Hooray!

Gibby Haynes

Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers fame is the next in a long line of awesome artists to record a 7" for Jack White and Third Man Records' blue series.  His outing features White on guitar and a cover of Adrenalin O.D.'s "Paul's Not Home."  Look for it next week and listen below.

Bonus:  If you're in Austin for SXSW and stumble upon the Third Man Records rolling record store, they will be selling a limited variant of the 7" pressed on old X-rays.  Right on.