“Pepper” from Butthole Surfers

My first proper experience with Texas troublemakers Butthole Surfers was back in 1989, when the San Antonio-based experimental psychedelic noise outfit came to UCLA. They were scheduled to perform in Ackerman Ballroom, which was like an extremely dated open-floor high school auditorium … but bigger … and deeper. The college radio station KLA was located at one end, beneath a projection booth. On the other, was a curtained stage, big enough to house a small act, but probably better suited to a minimal stage production or university choir. There was also a retractable movie screen above it.

I bring all this up, because Butthole Surfers (or B.H Surfers, which was the mainstream media’s safe name), used to put on a pretty wild show – a wall of strobe lights, crazy amounts of fog, a nude stripper/dancer, costumes, stage dives, fake blood, and a lot of other things that still seem a bit over the top, even by today’s standards. And they took up a lot of space and resources to do it. I can’t recall how much of all that made it into the Ackerman show, other than the strobes and fog. But that seemed enough to blow out a fuse and flood the limited confines of the auditorium with a thick enough haze that you couldn’t see the person next to you.

I also remember interviewing frontman and provocateur Gibby Haynes, a few days before said show. It was an odd phone exchange, since he and fellow Buttholes were somewhere on the road. I asked all the usual questions that a curious fan would want to know. But most of the answers were an odd redneck sort of glossolalia, somewhere between gibberish, drunken-speak, off-center rhetorical questions, and the occasional lucid response. And that’s what I ended up publishing. Unfortunately, i don’t have a copy of it anymore.

But the published interview elicited some response from Haynes, because on the day of the show, he came to the UCLA Daily Bruin office, one of my music journalist haunts, asking to meet me. I wasn’t present at the time, so I have no idea what he wanted to say. And even to this day, I wonder whether I should’ve been there, or did I actually dodge a bullet.

Anyway, today’s choice pick for the day made me think of that old chestnut of a story. The song’s called “Pepper,” and it’s actually from ’96, a whole seven years past said event. I sort of remember it coming out. But during the mid-’90s, I was knee deep into the electronic scene – ambient, techno, trance, house, etc. And I was living in San Francisco, which had a thriving club scene to match.

Every now and then, Butthole Surfers would re-emerge in my life. The last time being a few years ago, when a millennial coworker asked if they were a real band, because she thought the name was hilarious.

“Pepper” came to mind because it was featured in episode eight of season two of “The Umbrella Academy.” Incidentally, the sophomore run of the Netflix series has some excellent music choices, but you can check that out on your own.

This one’s a curious effort from the Buttholes. It actually sounds like an early Beck song, but slightly more fucked up, weird, and subversive. It’s also one of their only songs that broke the mainstream – hence B.H. Surfers, for the easily offended.

In all honesty, I haven’t kept up with these Texans since the release of “Electriclarryland,” where “Pepper” hails from. But I can tell you that most of the material before this release is pretty different … sludgy and grimy to loud and heavy, very punkish and full of noise modulation and manipulation, and strange forays into tape editing (these days, that’s left to the apps). About the only holdover that sort of stuck was the psychedelic angle, which tends to be an undercurrent throughout most of their work, eight albums in total.

For me, the standout album is still 87’s “Locust Abortion Technician,” their third LP, which understandably isn’t for everyone. But upon its release, it came as a surprise shock to the system, full of fucked up fusion, a cacophonic blender of styles and genres that somehow meshed into this really interesting sound collage. Plus, it fit rather comfortable amongst my other interests of the time – industrial, hardcore, noise rock, punk, post-punk, that sort of thing.

Like I said, “Pepper” doesn’t really sound like any of that. It’s actually quite melodic and folksy, despite its subversive skew. I’m not quite sure what provoked the Buttholes to come up with it, other than it sounds like something that could’ve come from Texas. But it’s probably the safest bet for the uninitiated.

And if you’ve already been hazed, and/or you’ve taken a break from their music (like myself), it’s a decent enough provocation to take Butthole Surfers for another nostalgic spin on the streaming airwaves.

Up until the pandemic, they’d still put on a few shows here and there. Nothing quite as crazy as those naughty and decadent on-stage affairs of yore. But still sort of nuts, nonetheless. Haynes continues to lead the band, playing guitar, keys, and sax, while singing through a megaphone, flanked by longtime members Paul Leary on guitar and bass, King Coffey on drums, and Jeff Pinkus on bass.

Butthole Surfers is probably not going appeal to everyone’s sweet spot. But “Pepper” is about as straightforward accessible as these guys are capable. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Here it is, coming at you from the ass end of the mid-90s. Enjoy!

“Pepper” from the 1996 album “Electriclarryland.”