Out Today: Butthole Surfers LP Reissues + "I Hate My Job (First Take)" + Matador Revisionist History Podcast Ep. 13
(photo: Pat Blashill)
Purchase / Stream Butthole Surfers Remastered Reissues
Today, March 22nd, sees the release of the first tranche of remastered key catalog titles by legendary San Antonio, Texas band The Butthole Surfers on Matador Records: Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac, Rembrandt Pussyhorse, and PCPPEP.
Marking the occasion, the band have unearthed and remastered an alternate version of their 1983 track ‘I Hate My Job’ with a new animated video.
In addition, the band’s Paul Leary and King Coffey appear on the latest episode of the Matador Revisionist History Podcast, out today. In conversation with Matt Sweeney, they discuss the influence of the Meat Puppets and Run D.M.C., the Texas music scene with Dicks, Big Boys and others, early days on the road, run-ins with the fire department and much more. Listen HERE.
Previously, the band released a new video for Psychic… song ‘Butthole Surfer’, featuring rarely seen photographs of the band shot by Gail Butensky during the 1980s. Watch HERE.
Further remastered titles will follow on vinyl in autumn, including Locust Abortion Technician, Hairway to Steven, and Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis, plus EPs and other material recorded during the band’s strange, grotesque, and ultimately unparalleled first decade. All the releases are available digitally HERE.
The Butthole Surfers were formed in 1981 by vocalist Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary. Drummer King Coffey joined in 1983. Together, they have remained the band’s three constant members across various recording sessions and touring incarnations.
Butthole Surfers Online
Bandcamp
Coming March 22 : Butthole Surfers Vinyl Reissues
(photo by Pat Blashill)
"Butthole Surfer"
Photos by Gail Butensky, Video by Michael Speed
We are pleased to announce that Matador Records will reissue a number of key catalog titles by legendary Texas band, The Butthole Surfers, including classic albums and EPs recorded during the band’s strange, grotesque, and ultimately unparalleled first decade. All of the records have been remastered under supervision from the group.
Today, remastered audio of the first three releases in the series – 'Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac', 'Rembrandt Pussyhorse', and 'PCPPEP' – have been made available on streaming services, with vinyl to follow on March 22. Pre-orders are available HERE. You can also watch a new video for the song "Butthole Surfer" featuring rarely seen photographs of the band shot by Gail Butensky during the 1980s. Further titles will follow in the fall.
The Butthole Surfers were formed in 1981 by vocalist Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary. Drummer King Coffey joined in 1983. Together, they have remained the band’s three constant members across various recording sessions and touring incarnations.
stream / purchase Butthole Surfers reissues
(order all three albums at the Matador store and get 15% off --- with a limited three-pin set thrown in while supplies last)
(stream / preorder 'Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac')
‘Psychic…Powerless…Another Man’s Sac’ Track List
01. Concubine
02. Eye of the Chicken
03. Dum Dum
04. Woly Boly
05. Butthole Surfer
06. Lady Sniff
07. Cherub
08. Mexican Caravan
09. Cowboy Bob
10. Gary Floyd
(stream/preorder 'Rembrandt Pussyhorse')
‘Rembrandt Pussyhorse’ Track List
01. Creep in the Cellar
02. Sea Ferring
03. American Woman
04. Waiting For Jimmy to Kick
05. Strangers Die Everyday
06. Perry
07. Whirling Hall of Knives
08. Mark Says Alright
09. In the Cellar
(stream / preorder 'PCPPEP')
‘PCPPEP’ Track List
01. Cowboy Bob
02. Bar-B-Q Pope
03. Dance of the Cobras
04. The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey’s Grave
05. Wichita Cathedral
06. Hey
07. Something
Byron Coley on The Butthole Surfers:
More than four decades after the fact, I still remember walking out of my live introduction to the Buttholes in a state of happy confoundment. By 1982 there were already plenty of bands who'd ostensibly begun as part of the American hardcore scene but were now headed in other directions. One such unit was Austin's Big Boys, whose mix of gender-bending skatepunk and funk readymades were addictively brilliant. We went to see them at L.A.'s Grandia Room with low expectations for openers, the Butthole Surfers, who we'd figured were just another thrash band from Texas with a “shock” moniker.
The Buttholes had already begun their set by the time we got there, and it was immediately evident their sonic approach was far from what we'd expected. Some of their songs resembled a better, weirder version of the Dead Kennedys, but the comprehendible snippets of lyrics sounded great as hell – “There's a time to fuck and a time to crave/But the Shah sleeps in Lee Harvey's grave!” And the singer and guitarist looked like they were competing in the nuts boy sweepstakes. Even with the Grandia Room's impossible sight-lines, the band made a real impression. I asked Mike Watt what he knew about them and he just said they were, “out there.” Which I took as a good sign.
When their records started arriving, I bought them even though they were on Jello B's label (which I usually boycotted). ‘PCPPEP’ (actually recorded after the protean version of ‘Another Man's Sac’) sounded more whacked-out than the studio record that preceded it, and was also the first to feature the power of the band's classic two drummer line-up (King Coffey and Teresa Taylor). The synchronized percussive brutarianism of this pair (falsely rumored to be siblings) provided the perfect base for the unhinged blurt of the guitars and vocals then being shared by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary. We didn't manage to see the Buttholes again until they played the East Coast in '84, by which time a few bassists had come and gone, and the band had evolved into full freakout mode.
The early-mid '80s had their share of insane combos – The Birthday Party, Black Flag and Minor Threat had the raw power to melt your mind in seconds. SWANS, Einsturzende Neubauten and Big Black created enough overwhelming sonic pressure their sounds might actually flatten you. And Sonic Youth displayed such a dizzyingly unpredictable mix of art, pop culture and violence you'd sometimes leave their shows drooling. The Buttholes shared elements with all of these groups, but added a wild psychedelic edge and a propensity for bizarre spectacle.
By the time they started touring to preview and then support the revamped version of ‘Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac’, the Buttholes' live show was an berserk, evolving extravaganza of strobes, smoke, clothespins, naked dancing, bullhorns, raving lunacy and music that was as madly mind-blowing as that of any band who ever lived. ‘Another Man's Sac’ was also wildly advanced over the previous records. Parts of the LP swaddled their punk edge inside so much oink and babble you almost couldn't discern it, with other segments stretching out into a mutant form of garage blues, and others just swirling out of control.
This evolution continued on ‘Rembrandt Pussyhorse’, which featured a set of tunes for which the Buttholes' rock-based form destruction was mixed with experimental, tape-mangling passages of many flavors. Haynes was handling all audible vocals by this point, and his mastery of post-tongue dynamism was finally in full flight. Meanwhile, their live shows became legendary examples of excess and derangement, and their music just kept getting louder and stranger and more savage. It was the diametric opposite of the hardcore scene from which it had emerged, which was heading in ever more codified and stylistically conservative directions.
This first batch of reissues is certain to raise the roof for a lot of people who thought they had a pretty good handle on the outer realms of the '80s indie-rock scene. And while the recordings are not the fully immersive experience of the Buttholes in concert, you may still feel as though you've fallen down a rabbit hole the size of Texas itself.
This is the sound of the Butthole Surfers before they were name-checked by Kurt Cobain, and signed by Capitol in a frenzy to not-be-left-out of the indie-rock sweepstakes. Before they had an actual Billboard hit with “Pepper,” from their 1996 LP, ‘Electric Larryland’. Before people saw them as something like a progenitor for theatrically oddball outfits like the Flaming Lips and Animal Collective. The Buttholes' early recordings for independent labels, and the shows they played throughout the 1980s, stand as pure exemplars of the most cussedly Dionysian vom ever spewed.
Yippie Yi Yo!
Butthole Surfers online
Bandcamp
Butthole Surfers - Classic Catalog TItles Now On Matador
photo by Pat Blashill, 1984
We are pleased to announce that Matador is reissuing a number of key catalog titles by legendary the Butthole Surfers, including the classic albums Psychic…Powerless…Another Man’s Sac, Rembrandt Pussyhorse, Locust Abortion Technician, Hairway to Steven, and piouhgd plus EPs and other material recorded during the band’s strange, grotesque, and ultimately unparalleled first decade. Details about our diabolical physical reissue campaign will be unveiled at a later date (perhaps with great fanfare, perhaps not -- dependeds on whether or how the fan is functioning that week)
stream / download The Butthole Surfers first five albums
'Butthole Surfers 1984-1991 - A Primer' (Playlist)
The Butthole Surfers were formed in 1981 by vocalist Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary. Drummer King Coffey joined in 1983. Together, they have remained the band’s three constant members across various recording sessions and touring incarnations.
The Butthole Surfers were, unquestionably one of the most beloved, influential, and lights-out insane bands to emerge from the U.S. ’80’s underground and their career is long overdue for critical reassessment and rediscovery (and with that in mind, a feature length documentary about the band is scheduled to premiere in 2024).
‘Psychic… Powerless… Another Man’s Sac’
1. “Concubine" 2:27
2. "Eye of the Chicken" 1:36
3. "Dum Dum" 3:47
4. "Woly Boly" 2:45
5. "Butthole Surfer" 3:02
6. "Lady Sniff" 3:45
7. "Cherub" 6:22
8. "Mexican Caravan" 2:46
9. "Cowboy Bob" 2:55
10. "Gary Floyd" 1:56
‘Rembrandt Pussyhorse’
1. "Creep in the Cellar" 2:05
2. "Sea Ferring" 4:00
3. "American Woman" 5:33
4. "Waiting for Jimmy to Kick" 2:21
5. "Strangers Die Everyday" 3:08
6. "Perry" 3:32
7. "Whirling Hall of Knives" 4:44
8. "Mark Says Alright" 4:08
9. "In the Cellar" 3:18
‘Locust Abortion Technician’
1. "Sweat Loaf" 6:09
2. "Graveyard" 2:27
3. "Pittsburgh to Lebanon" 2:29
4. "Weber" 0:35
5. "HAY" 1:50
6. "Human Cannonball" 3:51
7. "U.S.S.A." 2:14
8. "The O-Men" 3:27
9. "Kuntz" 2:24
10. "Graveyard" 2:45
11. "22 Going on 23" 4:23
‘Hairway To Stephen’
1. "Jimi" 12:38
2. "Ricky" 2:36
3. "I Saw an X-Ray of a Girl Passing Gas" 4:56
4. "John E. Smoke" 6:40
5. "Rocky" 3:45
6. "Julio Iglesias" 3:05
7. "Backass" 6:07
8. "Fast" 1:35
‘piouhgd’
1. "Revolution Part 1" 2:18
2. "Revolution Part 2" 7:28
3. "Lonesome Bulldog" 4:42
4. "Lonesome Bulldog II" 0:39
5. "The Hurdy Gurdy Man" (lyrics and music by Donovan) 3:59
6. "Golden Showers" 3:17
7. "Lonesome Bulldog III" 0:37
8. "Blindman" 3:40
9. "No, I'm Iron Man" 2:25
10. "Something" 2:06
11. "P.S.Y." 12:12
12. "Lonesome Bulldog IV" 0:41
Butthole Surfers online
Bandcamp