June 23, 2026 • 22 mins
BUTTHOLE SURFERS Releases a Tour de Fart with New Single/Video “IMBUYA” off the Upcoming Album AFTER THE ASTRONAUT Out June 26, 2026 via Sunset Blvd.
Pipeman chatted with Paul Leary about finally releasing this album the way they originally wanted to. We also discussed artists and the industry plus the documentary coming out which is brilliantly edited.
Nearly three decades after it was shelved for being “too abrasive” (their words, not mine, but also, very on brand), the band is finally releasing After the Astronaut on June 26 via Sunset Blvd.—the original version of the record they intended, before their label turned it into 2001’s Weird Revolution. Consider this the alternate timeline where things got appropriately strange.
Alongside the announcement, the new single “Imbuya" is a gloriously unhinged, psych-sludge detour that guitarist Paul Leary describes as being “conceived and produced much like a fart after eating beans.” (Yes, really. No notes.) It follows the surf-punk oddity “Jet Fighter,” and together they set the tone for a record that leans into electronics, industrial textures, and the band’s signature anti-everything ethos.
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Pipeman in the Pit is a music, festival, and interview segment of The Adventures of Pipeman Radio Show (#pipemanradio) and from The King of All Festivals while on The Pipeman Radio Tour.
Pipeman in the Pit features all kinds of music and interviews with bands & music artists especially in the genres of Heavy Metal, Rock, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Punk Rock, Goth, Industrial, Alternative, Thrash Metal & Indie Music. Pipeman in the Pit also features press coverage of events, concerts, & music festivals. Pipeman Productions is an artist management company that sponsors the show introducing new local & national talent showcasing new artists & indie artists.
Then there is The Pipeman Radio Tour where Pipeman travels the country and world doing press coverage for Major Business Events, Conferences, Conventions, Music Festivals, Concerts, Award Shows, and Red Carpets. One of the top publicists in music has named Pipeman the “King of All Festivals.” So join the Pipeman as he brings “The Pipeman Radio Tour” to life right before your ears and eyes.
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Pipeman chatted with Paul Leary about finally releasing this album the way they originally wanted to. We also discussed artists and the industry plus the documentary coming out which is brilliantly edited.
Nearly three decades after it was shelved for being “too abrasive” (their words, not mine, but also, very on brand), the band is finally releasing After the Astronaut on June 26 via Sunset Blvd.—the original version of the record they intended, before their label turned it into 2001’s Weird Revolution. Consider this the alternate timeline where things got appropriately strange.
Alongside the announcement, the new single “Imbuya" is a gloriously unhinged, psych-sludge detour that guitarist Paul Leary describes as being “conceived and produced much like a fart after eating beans.” (Yes, really. No notes.) It follows the surf-punk oddity “Jet Fighter,” and together they set the tone for a record that leans into electronics, industrial textures, and the band’s signature anti-everything ethos.
Click Here to Subscribe to Pipeman in the Pit for PERKS, BONUS Content & FREE GIVEWAYS!
Pipeman in the Pit is a music, festival, and interview segment of The Adventures of Pipeman Radio Show (#pipemanradio) and from The King of All Festivals while on The Pipeman Radio Tour.
Pipeman in the Pit features all kinds of music and interviews with bands & music artists especially in the genres of Heavy Metal, Rock, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Punk Rock, Goth, Industrial, Alternative, Thrash Metal & Indie Music. Pipeman in the Pit also features press coverage of events, concerts, & music festivals. Pipeman Productions is an artist management company that sponsors the show introducing new local & national talent showcasing new artists & indie artists.
Then there is The Pipeman Radio Tour where Pipeman travels the country and world doing press coverage for Major Business Events, Conferences, Conventions, Music Festivals, Concerts, Award Shows, and Red Carpets. One of the top publicists in music has named Pipeman the “King of All Festivals.” So join the Pipeman as he brings “The Pipeman Radio Tour” to life right before your ears and eyes.
Would you like to be a sponsor of the show?
Would you like to have your business, products, services, merch, programs, books, music or any other professional or artistic endeavors promoted on the show?
Would you like to be interviewed as a professional or music guest on The Adventures of Pipeman, Positively Pipeman and/or Pipeman in the Pit?
Would you like to host your own Radio Show, Streaming TV Show, or Podcast?
PipemanRadio Podcasts are heard on Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Amazon Music, Audible, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and over 100 other podcast outlets where you listen to Podcasts.
The following are the different podcasts to Follow, Listen, Download, Subscribe:
- The Adventures of Pipeman
- Pipeman Radio
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- Pipeman – The Wandering Jew
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Stream The Adventures of Pipeman daily & live Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays at 1PM ET on W4CY Radio & Talk 4 TV.
Download, Rate & Review the Podcast at The Adventures of Pipeman, Pipeman Radio,
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, you have done too, dear censure, for se Wow,
for you your.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
It's the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man
W four CY Radio. Super excited about this interview because man,
this is one of the best freaking live bands ever
in the history of music in my opinion and a
lot of other people's opinions too, and they am so
happy that they are finally releasing this kind of ghost
(00:43):
album that was record labels decided not to have it
the way the butthole surfers would have it, and in
twenty twenty six, we're gonna have it the way the
butthole surfers have it.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
So let's welcome to the show, Paul.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
How are you h great? Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Oh my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Like you as somebody from the eighties and the beginning
of you know stuff like I remember sitting backstage on
the Sunset Strip and those record labels shut telling bands
how to write their music, how to look, how to
do things, and I was like, I'm out, that is
not how music should be. Let the artists be the creatives.
(01:25):
The business people the suits do the business, but let
the artists be creative. And here we are, all these
years later, finally releasing this album the way you wanted to.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Yeah, well I can. I can definitely relate to what
you're saying, because you know, we were just we were
too weird. You know, we got we got side to
a major label, but they didn't know what to do
with this. I mean, you know, we're the butthole Surfers.
They just they just left us to our own devices,
other than giving us a bunch of money to record
with so we could go out and hire John Paul
(01:57):
Jones and go to a country club studio and all
that other kind of stuff. But you know, then once
we had a number one hit in the song Pepper,
then all of a sudden they took an interest and
decided they needed to step in and tell us how
to be.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I mean, what did they expect, You're to butthole surfers?
Like the name alone should say you're gonna be a
little weird and it should stay that way.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Yeah, you know, I thought we were just going to
be free to be whatever we wanted to be, you know,
without any interference.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
And that was very naive and we ended up going.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Through the Ringer and and you know, our our drummer
jokes about you know, they wanted us to write a
song with kid rock, so we do that and our
drummers like reduced to playing tambourine on a kid rock song,
And oh boy, he likes to bring that up a lot,
so I thought I'd bring it up for him here.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Right there, you go. You know, it was funny.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I was just doing media coverage at festival, Milwaukee metal Fest,
and one of the sets I was at, I was like,
you know, that would be a cool.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Tour to do the butthole surfers.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And then it was Green Jello, who's now called green
Jelly because Jello only supports Peedos but they won't support
a band as good music and sue them for using
the name.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
We live in crazy times, I love, right, I know.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And you know it's like some of the stuff you
guys did way back when, uh you know, that's what
made shows fun. Man, Like this Green Jello show that
I was at at the festival, it was like they
handed out like noodles, like pool noodles. Everybody in the
whole wash pit was noodles and it was it was
(03:48):
like the funniest most fun washpit I was ever in.
And that's the way it should be like, don't take
yourself too seriously. It's music, it's created, and create creativity
to art.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And that's really that's actually a really great idea. You know,
they don't have things in their hands.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
They tend to like start throwing punches at each other
and stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
True, that sounds great.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Right totally.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So let me ask you, as the artist, how do
you compare the way you wanted this album to be,
which it is now coming out in a few days
after the Astronaut Astronaut compared to what they want to
turn it into when they turned it into Weird Revolution.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Well, you know, a lot of the songs are the same,
but they they're mixed different and a lot of them
are have different arrangements. And then a couple of the
weirder songs off the record they just didn't they just
didn't want them at all. So they cut off a
couple of songs, two or three songs, I can't remember that,
and that album was called Weird Revolution.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I believe, Yeah, yeah, totally, so, so we got to bring
those back and they're they're kind of the stupid or
crazier songs, and to me, that's what we live for.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
And uh, you know, they're they're like my favorite songs
on the record.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Because for you, that's why you know, it's all you.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
It's kind of like, and you know what I was
thinking about when you were talking about the mixes I
heard I think it was Hetfield talking about when they
did Kill Them All and they weren't the band wasn't
even allowed in the studio when they did the final
master mix. Like this band had been playing these same
(05:37):
songs for years, they knew exactly the way they wanted it,
and they don't even have a say.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
So how Kill Them All came out?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, it was a good album, but not what Metallica
wanted that album to be.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I can't believe that they put up.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
With that, right, you know? And I mean I do.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I do a lot of mixing work for bands, and
I don't let anybody in the studio when I'm mixing.
But what I do is send them a mix and
say what do you think? And they'll say, well, I
want to more of this and less of that.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And that's fine.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
That's what I do because the artist deserves to have
what they want to have.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
There's just there should be no compromising ever.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
No, I mean, otherwise, how you play the songs and
have the same kind of feeling towards them. It's like
sometimes I guess as an artist, you probably feel like
it's not even your song anymore when they start doing.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
That, right, absolutely, and it happens.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, yeah, And I suppose.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
For some people that it doesn't really matter that much.
But when you're as fucked up and crazy as we are,
you know, we kind of need fucked up and crazy.
We can't have some guy to suit, you know, try
to tamp down on that. That's just ridiculous. That's that's
not that's not how we got along in the first.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Place, exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
And I think that's why you also had have the
following that you do and had the following that you did,
because you were unique. You know, it's easy to be
like everybody else, and it's even easier though, to be yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well, we did piss off a few people along the way.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
That's kind of fun. Sometimes they get very good.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
It's it's kind of surprising when it happens. You know.
It's like.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Our very first EP I think, you know, we had
a women's group in San Francisco very upset with us
over a song called something because it talks about kicking
kicking a woman in the teeth, and you know, it
sounds terrible and I understand, but it was all done
in joke. It's like, you know, you don't criticize an
(07:48):
actor for playing a thug in a movie.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
You know that it's a part.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I'm glad you brought that up. Like people don't realize,
like even me on my radio show. Some a lot
of times on my radio show, there's zero filter. Okay,
Like whatever weird screwed up thought comes in my head
is coming out on the mic because you're just like
playing a role. And if people have known me my
whole life, they'll call me up and like what the
(08:15):
fuck happened to you?
Speaker 3 (08:16):
I'm like, I'm just playing a role.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Many like I'm entertaining, you know, and people don't get
that concept.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
It blows my mind, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I mean, like I said, you know, if you're if
a band name is called the Butthole Surfers, are you
really going to expect them to be like serious suit
type people.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Like now, you know, we we go through the underground
scene and survive out the other end and get signed
to a major label, and people are upset because we
sold out, you know, to be on a major label.
But god damn, I mean the butthole surfers on the
same leg with the Beatles and Queenen's Clearwater Revival and
Grand Funk and Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. It just
(09:06):
it's like, come on, man, I'm not passing that up
just to be cool.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
See.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I love that you're saying that, because you know, it
is kind of a thing like when you're a teenager,
you're at least me.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I was kind of thinking.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
That whole sellout thing, poser sell out thing, not towards you,
actually towards like I said Metallica, I felt that way
about the Black Album. But then as I became an adult,
I was like, well, that was a pretty stupid way
of me thinking, like, first of all, as an artist,
don't you want to grow? You know, why do you
you don't want to stay a garage band forever? And
(09:45):
you know, why would you pass that up, like to
be on the same label as the Beatles, Like, I
don't think it gets much better than that.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
No, And be able to smoke a joint on the
roof of the Capitol Building and work with John Paul
fucking Jones.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Right, stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
That stuff was just awesome and it and it made
no sense. I mean, the Butthole Surfers of all bands
it you know, it seemed it reads like a joke.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
One hundred percent. But I think it's also you know,
like a band like you also paved the way for
other bands, especially underground and punk bands, that maybe even
they felt okay the Butthole Surfers are doing, maybe it's
okay for us to actually get better at what we do.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Well, I feel like we got worse at what we did.
It's a testament to the value of trying. It's like
why botherhood. You know, our first record came out and
I just I thought it sounded so like cheap, and
I mean we recorded it and mixed it in like
three days.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
And it wasn't what I wanted to sound like.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
And then the you know, the first album come full
length album comes out and it was getting a little
better for me, but it was still.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Not what I had in mind.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
And album after album and kids like the early stuff,
you know, the stuff that didn't sound the way I
was wanting to sound, but that's how he sounded, and
that's you know, it's recording.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Is like taking a picture of a man, and.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Then it takes years and decades to finally hone it
in and get the sound and everything the way you
like it.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
And you know, I don't know if I don't know how.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
You know, those early fans feel about our later stuff.
Some of them like it, some of them don't.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
You know what I at least I.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Got to achieve what I wanted to achieve.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Well, that's what's important. And you know, in a way
I think about it is listen, As an artist, first
of all, you're gonna want to grow, especially a lot
of times you start a punk band because you don't
even know how to play your instrument yet. So you
start to learn more and get better. And then it's
kind of like I was just sitting with the coec recently,
(12:04):
and you know, listen, I remember them pre Pepper when
you know, when they were hardcore punk, and I have
that nostalgia of that, you know, But I can also
see the other side of an artist not wanting to
stay there and like explore. Like that's one of the
cool things about your bands. You explore different genres all
within one song usually, you know, and like that's to me,
(12:29):
that's what an artist is is experimenting, exploring and seeing how.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Far you could take your creativity.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Yeah, and you know, and you can mind that with
the fact that you're playing live, which means you're you're
on the road, and you're playing these songs night after
night after night after night, and and you kind of
get tired of tired of the songs and the way
they sound, and that's that kind of helps prod you
along to do something a little different so that you
don't have to play something you're getting sick of.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I know one band recently at festival they were like, Okay,
we're gonna play this song now because we have to,
and you're all gonna love it because you want it,
but here you go, you know, and.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
If you read the rub, it's like, Okay, well they really.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Lost their juice for playing that song, but now they
have to play that song. And I think it's cool
when bands actually play new stuff because I want to
hear what they've grown into, what they've evolved into it.
And sometimes it's better, sometimes it's different. Sometimes it's just
(13:40):
something out of total norm for them.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Just because they felt like doing it.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
That's what kind of reminds me.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
We did a tour a long time ago with a
Stone Temple pilots, and I did a lot of hanging
out with Dean de Leo. He's a hoot man. The
guy's funny as shit. But we used to smoke a.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Lot of pot together. And we were.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
On their bus before a show somewhere, you know, big show,
a lot of people, and the and the manager comes
into the bus all upset because they didn't have their
hit song on their playlist, that their set list that
they were going to do, and the bands like you
got to play that song, and we were stoned out
of our minds and we were laughing at.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Him asking for it.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So he was saying no, and the manager kept saying yes,
and we were just laughing our asses off because it
wasn't so much that he was refusing to do it.
It was just so funny to say no. And that
would That went on for like a half an hour
and they never did play that song.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I love it. That's the punk attitude right there.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You know, I would have I would have I would
have probably paid, you know, played it, just because you know,
I feel sorry for the kids that pay money to
come see us, they got to get something out of
it exactly.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, well, you know it's kind of thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Uh So, how do you feel about like how excited
are you about after the hos Instronaut coming out, because
it's like, I mean, we're a lot of years later,
like it took.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
A long, long and winding road to get here.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Well, it's it's really fun.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
I mean, when Weird Revolution came out, we were on
Hollywood Records and you know, we got like one single
and it was the it was the song co written
with Kid Rock, and we had an expensive video that
I mean a really expensive video and it was fun
making that video, but it was a song that we
didn't like and there wasn't a whole lot of publicity
(15:36):
other than that surrounding the release of that album. But
with this one, you know, we're on the Sunset Boulevard
Records and they've been you know, promoting it pretty good,
and we're making lots of videos for the album and
so so that's really fun. I feel like we got
labels that's got nothing better to do than than you know,
help us succeed.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
So see, I love that.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I love when you have record labels nowadays that like
let the artists actually enjoy the process and do it
the way they want and help them along the way.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Instead of that it's.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
A lot of it's a lot of work on their
end to do it that way.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
You know, that's setting up interviews and uh, setting up
videos and all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I mean, that's that tastes.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
That takes work, and so it's it's fun to work
with people that are willing to do it.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, and it makes you feel good after all these years,
record label is going to have enough faith in you
to do it the way you want to do it.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
That does and you know, this is this is probably
our last album.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
I think there'll be a box set eventually after this,
but this is this is our last like official studio release.
And it's been really fun just.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Just the fact that we're getting to do it at all.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
I'm just so so thrilled that we get our last
record gets to be something we're happy with as opposed
to something I'm embarrassed about.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I love hearing that you know, and you deserve it
after all these years. And I'm really stoked about the
documentary because that I see I love to me, it's
like home movies, a lot of these documentaries of bands
like you guys, and that's pretty cool and it shows
the real sight. The part I laughed about the most
(17:21):
on the trailer itself was, or actually the teaser trailer
before the official trailer, was that one producer I forget
which one saying yeah, like they're just assholes.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Oh that was.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
That was Steve Albini.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
And I was like, that's funny as hell. I love it.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Steve Albin.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Steve Albini, you know, rip, he did not like us.
He he just thought we were horrible, terrible people. And
he's in the documentary and he talks about what the
assholes we are and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
But yeah, he said, you're like the most horrible human
beings ever.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
It's all because we left Touch and Go Records to
be on On Capital or or whatever it was we did.
And you know, that was not an amicable split, you know,
and it should have been, because they were good to
us and we were good to them, and they were
our friends and all that. But at one point we
wanted a deal equal to the deal they were given
(18:23):
to some of the other bands. It was better for
the bands, and we felt like we should be getting
you know, as good a deal as anybody on that label.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
And when that started to become a thing, we.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Were told that they owned our music for life and
that you know, that set me off the deep end.
If that the second I heard that, you know, it.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Was over for me. It's like, I'm out of here, dude.
We'll see about that, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Had to go to court over it, and then go
to appeals court over it, and in the end, you know,
they the appeals court, the federal appeals Court, big time
fucking federal appeals Court ruled in our favor because all
we had was an oral contract and it took all
that legal proceeding to come up with the fact that
(19:10):
an oral contract is worth isn't worth the paper it's
not printed on her right.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Well, I'm glad that you did get it back. I'm
glad you put this album out now. And man, thank
you for all these years of just giving us great entertainment,
you know, not just music, great music, but great entertainment.
Because again I'll end it like I started it, best
(19:38):
live show ever.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
And by the way, our movie is coming out at
the end of the summer, our documentary and you haven't seen.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
It all, right, I have not seen it all. I
know it's available, but I want to see it the
right way.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And I really dig.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Going back to that you would include him in the
documentary because that just makes the documentary real, like it's
not one side that you're showing every side. And it
actually gave me humor too.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Well, you know, we we were hands off. Tom Stern
made the documentary, he directed it, and we've known him
since the eighties and we've worked with him before, and
he's a comedic genius and he brought that comedic genius
to the documentary. And one of the good things he
did was hire a really great editor, and the editing
that documentary really makes it into a compelling story that
(20:33):
you know, I've seen documentaries where it was just one
talking head after another and it's just.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Like we right, but ours is put together really well,
you know.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
And I learned stuff about my bandmates that I didn't know.
You know, he interviewed us and kept badgering us until
he got us to open up about things. And I
learned stuff about Gibbey that I didn't know. And I'm
proud of him for opening up about some of the
things he.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Went through in childhood and.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Highly recommend to anybody out there to go see that
the documentary it comes out, it's going to be first
released on the Animal draft House chain, so if you're
near an Animal draft House, trying to make it out there,
and if not, it'll be you know, streamed and all
that other stuff. Blu ray crap.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Anyway, I love my pitch for the documentary.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Well, I love it. I love the new album.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Because it's true you you know, it's on your own
terms and that's the only way it should be with artists.
And I thank you for spending the time with me
talk about and thanks for being on the Adventures of
Pipe Man.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
We thank you for having me pipe Man.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Oh my pleasure.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Hi, this is Paul Leary from the Butthole Servers and
you're listening to the Pipe Man on W four see why.
Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man.
I'm w for CUI Radio.
Hi, you have done too, dear censure, for se Wow,
for you your.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
It's the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man
W four CY Radio. Super excited about this interview because man,
this is one of the best freaking live bands ever
in the history of music in my opinion and a
lot of other people's opinions too, and they am so
happy that they are finally releasing this kind of ghost
(00:43):
album that was record labels decided not to have it
the way the butthole surfers would have it, and in
twenty twenty six, we're gonna have it the way the
butthole surfers have it.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
So let's welcome to the show, Paul.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
How are you h great? Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Oh my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Like you as somebody from the eighties and the beginning
of you know stuff like I remember sitting backstage on
the Sunset Strip and those record labels shut telling bands
how to write their music, how to look, how to
do things, and I was like, I'm out, that is
not how music should be. Let the artists be the creatives.
(01:25):
The business people the suits do the business, but let
the artists be creative. And here we are, all these
years later, finally releasing this album the way you wanted to.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Yeah, well I can. I can definitely relate to what
you're saying, because you know, we were just we were
too weird. You know, we got we got side to
a major label, but they didn't know what to do
with this. I mean, you know, we're the butthole Surfers.
They just they just left us to our own devices,
other than giving us a bunch of money to record
with so we could go out and hire John Paul
(01:57):
Jones and go to a country club studio and all
that other kind of stuff. But you know, then once
we had a number one hit in the song Pepper,
then all of a sudden they took an interest and
decided they needed to step in and tell us how
to be.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I mean, what did they expect, You're to butthole surfers?
Like the name alone should say you're gonna be a
little weird and it should stay that way.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
Yeah, you know, I thought we were just going to
be free to be whatever we wanted to be, you know,
without any interference.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
And that was very naive and we ended up going.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Through the Ringer and and you know, our our drummer
jokes about you know, they wanted us to write a
song with kid rock, so we do that and our
drummers like reduced to playing tambourine on a kid rock song,
And oh boy, he likes to bring that up a lot,
so I thought I'd bring it up for him here.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Right there, you go. You know, it was funny.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I was just doing media coverage at festival, Milwaukee metal Fest,
and one of the sets I was at, I was like,
you know, that would be a cool.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Tour to do the butthole surfers.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
And then it was Green Jello, who's now called green
Jelly because Jello only supports Peedos but they won't support
a band as good music and sue them for using
the name.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
We live in crazy times, I love, right, I know.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And you know it's like some of the stuff you
guys did way back when, uh you know, that's what
made shows fun. Man, Like this Green Jello show that
I was at at the festival, it was like they
handed out like noodles, like pool noodles. Everybody in the
whole wash pit was noodles and it was it was
(03:48):
like the funniest most fun washpit I was ever in.
And that's the way it should be like, don't take
yourself too seriously. It's music, it's created, and create creativity
to art.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And that's really that's actually a really great idea. You know,
they don't have things in their hands.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
They tend to like start throwing punches at each other
and stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
True, that sounds great.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Right totally.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So let me ask you, as the artist, how do
you compare the way you wanted this album to be,
which it is now coming out in a few days
after the Astronaut Astronaut compared to what they want to
turn it into when they turned it into Weird Revolution.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Well, you know, a lot of the songs are the same,
but they they're mixed different and a lot of them
are have different arrangements. And then a couple of the
weirder songs off the record they just didn't they just
didn't want them at all. So they cut off a
couple of songs, two or three songs, I can't remember that,
and that album was called Weird Revolution.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
I believe, Yeah, yeah, totally, so, so we got to bring
those back and they're they're kind of the stupid or
crazier songs, and to me, that's what we live for.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
And uh, you know, they're they're like my favorite songs
on the record.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Because for you, that's why you know, it's all you.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
It's kind of like, and you know what I was
thinking about when you were talking about the mixes I
heard I think it was Hetfield talking about when they
did Kill Them All and they weren't the band wasn't
even allowed in the studio when they did the final
master mix. Like this band had been playing these same
(05:37):
songs for years, they knew exactly the way they wanted it,
and they don't even have a say.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
So how Kill Them All came out?
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, it was a good album, but not what Metallica
wanted that album to be.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
I can't believe that they put up.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
With that, right, you know? And I mean I do.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I do a lot of mixing work for bands, and
I don't let anybody in the studio when I'm mixing.
But what I do is send them a mix and
say what do you think? And they'll say, well, I
want to more of this and less of that.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
And that's fine.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
That's what I do because the artist deserves to have
what they want to have.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
There's just there should be no compromising ever.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
No, I mean, otherwise, how you play the songs and
have the same kind of feeling towards them. It's like
sometimes I guess as an artist, you probably feel like
it's not even your song anymore when they start doing.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
That, right, absolutely, and it happens.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, yeah, And I suppose.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
For some people that it doesn't really matter that much.
But when you're as fucked up and crazy as we are,
you know, we kind of need fucked up and crazy.
We can't have some guy to suit, you know, try
to tamp down on that. That's just ridiculous. That's that's
not that's not how we got along in the first.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Place, exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
And I think that's why you also had have the
following that you do and had the following that you did,
because you were unique. You know, it's easy to be
like everybody else, and it's even easier though, to be yourself.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Well, we did piss off a few people along the way.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
That's kind of fun. Sometimes they get very good.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
It's it's kind of surprising when it happens. You know.
It's like.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Our very first EP I think, you know, we had
a women's group in San Francisco very upset with us
over a song called something because it talks about kicking
kicking a woman in the teeth, and you know, it
sounds terrible and I understand, but it was all done
in joke. It's like, you know, you don't criticize an
(07:48):
actor for playing a thug in a movie.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
You know that it's a part.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
I'm glad you brought that up. Like people don't realize,
like even me on my radio show. Some a lot
of times on my radio show, there's zero filter. Okay,
Like whatever weird screwed up thought comes in my head
is coming out on the mic because you're just like
playing a role. And if people have known me my
whole life, they'll call me up and like what the
(08:15):
fuck happened to you?
Speaker 3 (08:16):
I'm like, I'm just playing a role.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Many like I'm entertaining, you know, and people don't get
that concept.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
It blows my mind, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I mean, like I said, you know, if you're if
a band name is called the Butthole Surfers, are you
really going to expect them to be like serious suit
type people.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
I don't think so.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Like now, you know, we we go through the underground
scene and survive out the other end and get signed
to a major label, and people are upset because we
sold out, you know, to be on a major label.
But god damn, I mean the butthole surfers on the
same leg with the Beatles and Queenen's Clearwater Revival and
Grand Funk and Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra. It just
(09:06):
it's like, come on, man, I'm not passing that up
just to be cool.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
See.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I love that you're saying that, because you know, it
is kind of a thing like when you're a teenager,
you're at least me.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
I was kind of thinking.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
That whole sellout thing, poser sell out thing, not towards you,
actually towards like I said Metallica, I felt that way
about the Black Album. But then as I became an adult,
I was like, well, that was a pretty stupid way
of me thinking, like, first of all, as an artist,
don't you want to grow? You know, why do you
you don't want to stay a garage band forever? And
(09:45):
you know, why would you pass that up, like to
be on the same label as the Beatles, Like, I
don't think it gets much better than that.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
No, And be able to smoke a joint on the
roof of the Capitol Building and work with John Paul
fucking Jones.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Right, stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
That stuff was just awesome and it and it made
no sense. I mean, the Butthole Surfers of all bands
it you know, it seemed it reads like a joke.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
One hundred percent. But I think it's also you know,
like a band like you also paved the way for
other bands, especially underground and punk bands, that maybe even
they felt okay the Butthole Surfers are doing, maybe it's
okay for us to actually get better at what we do.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Well, I feel like we got worse at what we did.
It's a testament to the value of trying. It's like
why botherhood. You know, our first record came out and
I just I thought it sounded so like cheap, and
I mean we recorded it and mixed it in like
three days.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
And it wasn't what I wanted to sound like.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
And then the you know, the first album come full
length album comes out and it was getting a little
better for me, but it was still.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
Not what I had in mind.
Speaker 4 (11:06):
And album after album and kids like the early stuff,
you know, the stuff that didn't sound the way I
was wanting to sound, but that's how he sounded, and
that's you know, it's recording.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Is like taking a picture of a man, and.
Speaker 4 (11:21):
Then it takes years and decades to finally hone it
in and get the sound and everything the way you
like it.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
And you know, I don't know if I don't know how.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
You know, those early fans feel about our later stuff.
Some of them like it, some of them don't.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
You know what I at least I.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Got to achieve what I wanted to achieve.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Well, that's what's important. And you know, in a way
I think about it is listen, As an artist, first
of all, you're gonna want to grow, especially a lot
of times you start a punk band because you don't
even know how to play your instrument yet. So you
start to learn more and get better. And then it's
kind of like I was just sitting with the coec recently,
(12:04):
and you know, listen, I remember them pre Pepper when
you know, when they were hardcore punk, and I have
that nostalgia of that, you know, But I can also
see the other side of an artist not wanting to
stay there and like explore. Like that's one of the
cool things about your bands. You explore different genres all
within one song usually, you know, and like that's to me,
(12:29):
that's what an artist is is experimenting, exploring and seeing how.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Far you could take your creativity.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Yeah, and you know, and you can mind that with
the fact that you're playing live, which means you're you're
on the road, and you're playing these songs night after
night after night after night, and and you kind of
get tired of tired of the songs and the way
they sound, and that's that kind of helps prod you
along to do something a little different so that you
don't have to play something you're getting sick of.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Exactly.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I know one band recently at festival they were like, Okay,
we're gonna play this song now because we have to,
and you're all gonna love it because you want it,
but here you go, you know, and.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
If you read the rub, it's like, Okay, well they really.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Lost their juice for playing that song, but now they
have to play that song. And I think it's cool
when bands actually play new stuff because I want to
hear what they've grown into, what they've evolved into it.
And sometimes it's better, sometimes it's different. Sometimes it's just
(13:40):
something out of total norm for them.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Just because they felt like doing it.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
That's what kind of reminds me.
Speaker 4 (13:49):
We did a tour a long time ago with a
Stone Temple pilots, and I did a lot of hanging
out with Dean de Leo. He's a hoot man. The
guy's funny as shit. But we used to smoke a.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
Lot of pot together. And we were.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
On their bus before a show somewhere, you know, big show,
a lot of people, and the and the manager comes
into the bus all upset because they didn't have their
hit song on their playlist, that their set list that
they were going to do, and the bands like you
got to play that song, and we were stoned out
of our minds and we were laughing at.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Him asking for it.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
So he was saying no, and the manager kept saying yes,
and we were just laughing our asses off because it
wasn't so much that he was refusing to do it.
It was just so funny to say no. And that
would That went on for like a half an hour
and they never did play that song.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I love it. That's the punk attitude right there.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
You know, I would have I would have I would
have probably paid, you know, played it, just because you know,
I feel sorry for the kids that pay money to
come see us, they got to get something out of
it exactly.
Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, well, you know it's kind of thing, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Uh So, how do you feel about like how excited
are you about after the hos Instronaut coming out, because
it's like, I mean, we're a lot of years later,
like it took.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
A long, long and winding road to get here.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Well, it's it's really fun.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
I mean, when Weird Revolution came out, we were on
Hollywood Records and you know, we got like one single
and it was the it was the song co written
with Kid Rock, and we had an expensive video that
I mean a really expensive video and it was fun
making that video, but it was a song that we
didn't like and there wasn't a whole lot of publicity
(15:36):
other than that surrounding the release of that album. But
with this one, you know, we're on the Sunset Boulevard
Records and they've been you know, promoting it pretty good,
and we're making lots of videos for the album and
so so that's really fun. I feel like we got
labels that's got nothing better to do than than you know,
help us succeed.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
So see, I love that.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I love when you have record labels nowadays that like
let the artists actually enjoy the process and do it
the way they want and help them along the way.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Instead of that it's.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
A lot of it's a lot of work on their
end to do it that way.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
You know, that's setting up interviews and uh, setting up
videos and all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
I mean, that's that tastes.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
That takes work, and so it's it's fun to work
with people that are willing to do it.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, and it makes you feel good after all these years,
record label is going to have enough faith in you
to do it the way you want to do it.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
That does and you know, this is this is probably
our last album.
Speaker 4 (16:39):
I think there'll be a box set eventually after this,
but this is this is our last like official studio release.
And it's been really fun just.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Just the fact that we're getting to do it at all.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
I'm just so so thrilled that we get our last
record gets to be something we're happy with as opposed
to something I'm embarrassed about.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
I love hearing that you know, and you deserve it
after all these years. And I'm really stoked about the
documentary because that I see I love to me, it's
like home movies, a lot of these documentaries of bands
like you guys, and that's pretty cool and it shows
the real sight. The part I laughed about the most
(17:21):
on the trailer itself was, or actually the teaser trailer
before the official trailer, was that one producer I forget
which one saying yeah, like they're just assholes.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Oh that was.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
That was Steve Albini.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
And I was like, that's funny as hell. I love it.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
Steve Albin.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Steve Albini, you know, rip, he did not like us.
He he just thought we were horrible, terrible people. And
he's in the documentary and he talks about what the
assholes we are and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
But yeah, he said, you're like the most horrible human
beings ever.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
It's all because we left Touch and Go Records to
be on On Capital or or whatever it was we did.
And you know, that was not an amicable split, you know,
and it should have been, because they were good to
us and we were good to them, and they were
our friends and all that. But at one point we
wanted a deal equal to the deal they were given
(18:23):
to some of the other bands. It was better for
the bands, and we felt like we should be getting
you know, as good a deal as anybody on that label.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
And when that started to become a thing, we.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Were told that they owned our music for life and
that you know, that set me off the deep end.
If that the second I heard that, you know, it.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Was over for me. It's like, I'm out of here, dude.
We'll see about that, no doubt.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
Had to go to court over it, and then go
to appeals court over it, and in the end, you know,
they the appeals court, the federal appeals Court, big time
fucking federal appeals Court ruled in our favor because all
we had was an oral contract and it took all
that legal proceeding to come up with the fact that
(19:10):
an oral contract is worth isn't worth the paper it's
not printed on her right.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Well, I'm glad that you did get it back. I'm
glad you put this album out now. And man, thank
you for all these years of just giving us great entertainment,
you know, not just music, great music, but great entertainment.
Because again I'll end it like I started it, best
(19:38):
live show ever.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
And by the way, our movie is coming out at
the end of the summer, our documentary and you haven't seen.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
It all, right, I have not seen it all. I
know it's available, but I want to see it the
right way.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
And I really dig.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Going back to that you would include him in the
documentary because that just makes the documentary real, like it's
not one side that you're showing every side. And it
actually gave me humor too.
Speaker 4 (20:10):
Well, you know, we we were hands off. Tom Stern
made the documentary, he directed it, and we've known him
since the eighties and we've worked with him before, and
he's a comedic genius and he brought that comedic genius
to the documentary. And one of the good things he
did was hire a really great editor, and the editing
that documentary really makes it into a compelling story that
(20:33):
you know, I've seen documentaries where it was just one
talking head after another and it's just.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Like we right, but ours is put together really well,
you know.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
And I learned stuff about my bandmates that I didn't know.
You know, he interviewed us and kept badgering us until
he got us to open up about things. And I
learned stuff about Gibbey that I didn't know. And I'm
proud of him for opening up about some of the
things he.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Went through in childhood and.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
Highly recommend to anybody out there to go see that
the documentary it comes out, it's going to be first
released on the Animal draft House chain, so if you're
near an Animal draft House, trying to make it out there,
and if not, it'll be you know, streamed and all
that other stuff. Blu ray crap.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Anyway, I love my pitch for the documentary.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Well, I love it. I love the new album.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Because it's true you you know, it's on your own
terms and that's the only way it should be with artists.
And I thank you for spending the time with me
talk about and thanks for being on the Adventures of
Pipe Man.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
We thank you for having me pipe Man.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Oh my pleasure.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Hi, this is Paul Leary from the Butthole Servers and
you're listening to the Pipe Man on W four see why.
Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man.
I'm w for CUI Radio.
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