Butthole Surfers - Pine Street Theatre, Portland, OR, Sept. 30, 1989 - Soundcheck and show

Back after some time to bring you all yet another installment!...

Talk on the BHS forum regarding the lack of rehearsal recordings brought about the talk of recorded soundchecks. That brought up this one, which includes a full hour long check that includes some meanderings and odd jams. While not quite a rehearsal, it's probably as close to the band being playful and relaxed that we'll ever get...

the show, which I included as well, is very solid, but the soundcheck is the focus here. Probably not fer the more casual listeners, but a gem fer those who delve a bit deeper...

-x-

Butthole Surfers
Pine Street Theatre
Portland, OR
September 30. 1989

Source\lineage: fergotten recorder info (m)>Onkyo TA-RW344 w\ azimuth correction >Cooledit Pro 2.0>.wav>flac (level 8)

soundcheck
1) >mic rustling<
2) Paul check:
Edgar \ Blindman (solo)
3) >soundcheck<
4) Gibby (guitar):
Revolution \ Psychedelic Jam \ ballad
5) King check
6) Jeff:
Eindhoven Chicken Masque
7) King: cymbals
8) Jeff:
Bong Song \ 100 Million \ Eindhoven Chicken Masque \
? \ Booze, Tobacco, Dope, Pussy, Cars \ Fast
9) Paul:
Edgar \ Revolution
10) >-<
11) Gibbytronix
12) Gibby vocal:
Hey \ 1401
13) Ballad
14) >soundcheck<
15) Paul: Edgar
16) >-<
17) Paul: Edgar
18) Psychedelic Jam
19) Parchment Farm(??)
20) Check \ Suicide (abort
21) Suicide (instrumental)
22) 1401
23) Paul: Edgar
24) Edgar
25) >-<
26) …Lonesome Bulldog (flip)
27) Lonesome Bulldog (cont)
28) >-<
29) Strawberry
30) >-<
31) >-<



Show
1) Revolution
2) You Don't Know Me
3) Bong Song
4) Nee Nee
5) 1401
6) Edgar
7) Blindman
8) Roky
9) Sweat Loaf
10) Gary Floyd
11) To Parter
12) Psychedelic Jam
13) Fast
14) Hey
15) Suicide
16) X-Ray
17) Helicopter
18) Ricky
19) Lonesome Bulldog
20) Concubine



Enjoy it, but fer chrissakes PLEASE!:

do not sell it!
do not disseminate in MP3 Format!...remember that great show ya got on an unknown gen cassette...the one that sounded all muddy and which you wished you had a pristine copy?...yeah, well, if you keep this lossless fer everyone, you'll never have to worry about that ever again! Death to MP3!


notsaved



Go grab this one here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=46KF6CX4

Butthole Surfers - Paycheck's Lounge, Hamtramck, MI, August 11, 1984

This month marks the 26th anniversary of the first time the Butthole Surfers played Detroit. Here is that show, a showcase fer Corey Rusk who was very interested in putting the band on Touch & Go even before this show…and no doubt was more interested after seeing it.

An odd show that is slightly disparate, possibly because of the recent addition of Terence Smart on bass a week prior, or maybe because of the addition of so many new songs into the setlist. The band had a month or so to work on new material prior to Terence joining the band, and they used that time to pen some true classics in “Cherub”, “To Parter” and “Tornadoes”.

The “Whirling Hall of Knives” closer is a real treat as well.



Some warts on the recording, a tad ‘hot’ in spots, but overall really nice, and an important document of the band sealing the deal with Touch & Go.

-x-

Butthole Surfers
Paycheck’s Lounge,
Hamtramck, MI
August 11, 1984

Source\Lineage: fergotten model boombox w\ adjustable levels>Onkyo TA-RW344 w\ azimuth correction>Cooledit Pro 2.0>.wav>CD>eac>flac (level 8)

Taper: J Howard

1) Mexican Caravan
2) Cherub
3) The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave
4) Cowboy Bob
5) BBQ Pope
6) Dum Dum
7) To Parter
8) Hey
9) Concubine
10) Something
11) Tornadoes
12) >chat<
13) Whirling Hall of Knives


follow this link here to get it fer yerself!:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=980N0TI9

Enjoy it, but please.

Never Sell It!!
Please do not DISSEMINATE in MP3 format!



Anal Obsession Blog Post

Lollapalooza

We're coming on 19 years since the first Lollapalooza festival (wow! 19 years!?!), and I seem to be getting more and more requests to put up a show from that tour.

We older fans had a hard time sharing our favorite band with the masses, but they didn't disappoint us, nor the friends who we cajoled into going early to see them. Oh sure, they were forced into a 2PM time slot outdoors, rendering films and smoke and strobes useless, but the band was beginning its "rock" phase anyway, so they just went out there and did what they always did best...rock.

The 1991 tour pre-Lollapalooza was a real barn-burner. The speed at which they blazed though sets made them more of a punk rock band than the psychedelic act we were used to, but they still could drop some mind-melting jams, even at break neck speed...

It's this more 'honed' Butthole Surfers that we see on the Lollapalooza tour, but despite the obvious commercial trappings inevitable with playing shows like this, the band did not fall prey to playing what could be considered their most accesible material. A look at the best show of the tour to surface, August 11 at Waterloo Village in Stanhope, NJ, demonstrates this best. It could be held against any show from the four piece band and stand its ground.

A 10+ minute jam with the Rollins band set the stage fer a full 60 minute set of their own...playing as long as the headlining act and ditching "Roky", "1401" and "Hey" fer songs like "No Rule", "Shah" and "Ricky".


While the set here is slightly less impressive than the NJ show, the sound is amazing (being a SBD Master), and it has never been circulated from this source...it also was the show requested...and I do aim to please...;)) I don't think it will disappoint...though short, it is still a great one, and probably more indicative of MOST of their Lollapalooza sets than NJ is anyways...



Butthole Surfers
‘Lollapalooza’
World Amphitheatre,
Tinley, IL
8/3/91

Source\Lineage: SBD(m)>Onkyo TA-RW344 w\ azimuth correction>Cooledit Pro 2.0>.wav>flac (level 8)

1) Bong Song
2) 1401
3) Blindman
4) GJK
5) You Don’t Know Me
6) Watlo
7) Hey
8) No Rule
9) Nee Nee
10) Fast
11) Gary Floyd
12) Graveyard
13) Human Cannonball
14) Blue Cheer
15) Booze, Tobacco, Dope, Pussy, Cars
16) Pittsburg to Lebanon


Enjoy, but please keep this in a lossless format if yer gonna give it to a pal...and NEVER EVER sell it to anybody!...

Here's the link!:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J0FUUJPN

Remashing

Remashes

1) The Revenge of Anus Presley intro (reverse)
2) Butthole Surfers - Perry intro pt 1 (speed increase)
3) Butthole Surfers - Perry intro pt 2 (reverse+speed increase)
4) Annoying Song (reduced speed)
5) The Things They Said That I Saw (reverse)
6) Hay (reverse+decrease speed)
7) The O-Men (reduced speed)
8) Strangers Die chat
9) Strangers Die chat (speed increase)


So here is a silly project I did with windows sound recorder.

I tried to capitulate the songs into some cohesive thing. It may keep ya interested. May not…in my opinion, however, songs like “The Things They Said That I Saw”, “Hay”, and the “Perry” intro jam are almost as interesting without the studio effects.

Sure “Annoying Song” lumbers, but ya gotta admit…it isn’t quite as annoying…;)

Ya get to hear Paul’s amazing “cyborg lust” vocals on O-Men too…and Gibby’s vocals, while still indecipherable, take on a more sinister growl, rather than the manic frenzy on the true version…

I left the original version of the “Strangers Die Everyday” outro. It is from an unknown gen demo of the sessions, and was left off Caso Raro…hell, even a 2nd gen version I got of most of the session didn’t have it…so there ya have it…

This in no way blows up the band’s spot…this might actually show how technically proficient, as well as severely fukked they are as a band…if not, at least it may make ya chuckle. Consider it an April Fool’s joke…

GRAB IT here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TPMYZ3GC

RIP Scott Mathews

It is with a heavy heart that I annouce the passing of one of the founding members of the Butthole Surfers, Scott Mathews.

Scott was drummer fer the band from it's incarnation in Spring of 1981 until August of 1982. During his tenure, the band wrote dozens of songs, many of which comprise the first two LPs, 'A Brown Reason to Live' and 'Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac'. Some, like "I Love You Peggy" and "Perry", were recorded years after he had left the band. Many more never saw a proper release.

In March of 1982, Scott's brother Quinn joined the Buttholes to play bass. The Mathews Bros. rhythm section is what many consider the band at its finest. Though never officially touring, they did make it out of Texas to play Phoenix and the West Coast, and even recorded a demo with famed SST house producer Spot. Those sessions remain unreleased as the band was unable to fork up the $300 charge fer the tapes.

In 2001, Chris Smart, a local stalwart in the Austin punk scene, and brother of another BHS member, Terence Smart, conducted an interview with many of the members of the band...Here is a transcript of his interview with Scott:



THE ORIGINAL BAND WAS ME PAUL GIBBY AND SCOTT STEVENS. ANDREW MULLENS REPLACED SCOTT. A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK THAT WAS THE BEST INCARNATION OF THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS.
WE PLAYED AS THE BLEEDING SKULLS, EL BATMAN, ASHTRAY BABY HEADS, ALL KINDS OF SHIT.
GIBBY WAS A BASKETBALL PLAYER AND BUSSINESS MAJOR AND A BUTTHOLE SURFER. WE WERE ALL MAKING ART AND MUSIC AND THEATER. TRINITY WENT OUT OF THEIR WAY TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY NEVER ADMITTED ANYBODY LIKE US AGAIN.

I TALKED PAUL AND GIBBY INTO DOING SOMETHING BECAUSE THE WHOLE PUNK THING WAS SO STRONG. WE GOT TOGETHER AND STARTED JAMMING WITH NO BASS PLAYER AND THEN WE ADDED SCOTT STEVENS ON BASS. THAT WAS THE END OF 1980 OR EARLY 81.
PAUL AND I WERE ART MAJORS AT TRINITY AND GIBBY WAS PAULS BEST FRIEND WHO WAS MAJORING IN BUSINESS. PAUL USED TO GO AROUND S.A. WRITING THINGS ON PEOPLES DOORS AND STUFF. HE HAD LITTLE XEROX THINGS WITH LITTLE PHRASES LIKE "SELF CONTAINED UNIT" THAT HE USED TO PASTE ON PEOPLES DOORS. HE WAS INTO THAT WHOLE GUERILLA ART THING.
WE WERE SORTA DOING PERFORMANCE ART THINGS. GIBBY WAS ONE OF THE FIRST GUYS ON CAMPUS TO JUMP INTO THE WHOLE PUNK THING. THERE WAS A CORE GROUP OF US. WE WERE ALL ART MAJORS. GANG OF FOUR WAS A BIG INFLUENCE AND THE JAM AND ALL THE BRITISH GROUPS. THE CALI THING CAME IN LATER.

PAUL HAD PLAYED GUITAR SINCE HE WAS A LITTLE KID. HE SORTA REVEALED IT ONE DAY. EVERY WEEKEND WE WERE GOING UP TO AUSTIN SEEING BANDS BECAUSE THE WHOLE PUNK THING HAD EXPLODED. THE ENERGY OF THE AUSTIN SCENE WAS OVERTAKING ALL OF US. WE WERE JUST SMOKIN POT AND DRINKING BEER. ONE DAY PAUL SAID HE PLAYED GUITAR AND I FOUND A SET OF DRUMS AND LEARNED TO PLAY.

WE WERE JUST SCREWING AROUND TRYING TO FIND A NAME. WE PUT 8 SONGS TOGETHER AND FOR THE OPENING NIGHT OF MY ART SHOW AT THIS TINY GALLERY WE PLAYED AS DICK SMOKE OR THE DICK CLARK FIVE.

WE STARTED PLAYING UP IN AUSTIN CAUSE PAUL AND GIBBY HAD SENT OUR TAPE UP TO THE BIG BOYS WHICH WERE LIKE AUSTIN'S NUMBER 1 PUNK BAND AND THEY’D STARTED PASSING OUR TAPE AROUND AND BECAUSE WE HAD A SONG ON THE TAPE CALLED BUTTHOLE SURFER, PEOPLE USED TO YELL OUT FOR IT. WE PLAYED UP THERE ABOUT FOUR OR FIVE TIMES AS THE BLEEDING SKULLS AND DIFFERENT NAMES EVERY SHOW BUT BECAUSE OF THAT SONG, BUTTHOLE SURFER JUST SORTA TOOK OVER.

ANDREW REPLACED SCOTT AND THEN WE STARTED PLAYING ALL OVER THE PLACE IN AUSTIN, HOUSTON AND DALLAS AS THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS. THE FIRST YEAR WE DID THE BAND GIBBY WAS WORKING AS AN ACCOUNTANT. HE’D COME STRAIGHT FROM WORK TO PRACTICE IN HIS SUIT AND THEN HE’D TAKE HIS SUIT OFF AND WE’D START PRACTICING AS THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS. IT WENT ON FOR AT LEAST A YEAR LIKE THAT UNTIL HE COULDN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE AND QUIT HIS JOB. BUTTHOLE MANOR ON WOODLAWN WAS WHERE IT ALL STARTED. I SOLD MY CAR AND BOUGHT A 1976 CHEVY VAN SO WE COULD HAUL OUR SHIT AROUND TEXAS.

ONE PRACTICE GIBBY RAN INTO MY BATHROOM AND CAME OUT WITH A TOILET PAPER ROLL AND SANG THROUGH IT INTO THE MIC AS AN EFFECT.IT WAS THE TOILET PAPER ROLL THAT LED TO THE BULL HORN. I HAD A SAX THAT I USED TO PLAY AT OUR EARLY SHOWS AND GIBBY STARTED PLAYING IT LATER JUST SORT OF SQUEAKING AND MAKING NOISE WITH IT.

WE THOUGHT IF WE’RE REALLY GONNA MAKE IT WE GOTTA GO TO CALI CAUSE THAT WAS LIKE THE ANT BED OF THE WHOLE SCENE IN THE U.S. WE HAD CONNECTIONS OUT THERE WITH MDC AND THE BIG BOYS WHO WERE OUT THERE AT THE TIME SO WE SET UP SOME SHOWS. ANDREW LOST HIS MARBLES AND LEFT THE BAND. QUINN WENT OUT AS THE BASS PLAYER.



THE FIRST NIGHT WE GOT THERE WE MET THIS LADY WHO LET US MOVE INTO HER HOUSE ON FORMOSA AVE FOR LIKE A MONTH.

WE PLAYED WITH THE MINUTEMEN AT THE GRANDE ROOM AND WORD GOT AROUND ABOUT US REALLY QUICKLY. WE WENT UP TO S.F. AND PLAYED THIS GIG AND JELLO BIAFRA SAW US AND FREAKED OUT. A WEEK LATER JELLO HAD US OPEN FOR THE DK AND TSOL AT THE WHISKEY. IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST SHOWS WE EVER DID.GIBBY WAS DOING HIS TOILET PAPER THING AND STRIPPING DOWN TO HIS BOXERS. WE HAD THESE HUGE BAGS OF PAPER COCKROACHES WE WERE DUMPING ON THE AUDIENCE. GIBBY WAS INTO ROACHES. THERE WERE SO MANY ROACHES IN S.A. THAT HE DECIDED TO MAKE IT ART. WE’D TAKE CLOTHES AND STUFF THEM WITH CHEESE BURGERS AND MOUSE TRAPS AND CONDOMS AND TEAR THEM APART AT SHOWS AND THROW THEM AT THE CROWD.WE PLAYED LIKE 2 OR 3 ENCORES THEY WERE STILL YELLING FOR US WHEN THE DK CAME ON STAGE. THAT’S WHEN WE KNEW WE WERE LIKE A NATIONAL BAND. EVERYBODY IN L.A. WAS TALKING ABOUT US THE NEXT DAY.

WE WERE PLAYING LIKE 25 SONGS BY THEN, A LOT OF THEIR GREATEST SONGS LIKE NEGRO OBSERVER AND RADICAL WESTERN WORLD.

WE WERE HANGING OUT WITH BLACK FLAG AND SPOT WHO RECORDED THEM SAID WE NEED TO GET YOU GUYS ON VINYL. WE ARRANGED A STUDIO SESSION WITH SPOT PRODUCING AND CUT A LOT OF THE EARLY SONGS LIKE WHITE DUMB UGLY AND POOR, SOMETHING, NEGRO OBSERVER, MATCHSTICK, BUTTHOLE SURFER IT WAS IN THE SUMMER OF 82.

WE WERE IN CALI FOR LIKE 2 MONTHS. WE PLAYED LIKE 8 OR 9 SHOWS AND WE WERE LIKE AN OVERNIGHT SUCCESS. JELLO WANTED TO SIGN US TO ALT TENTACLES. WE WERE LIKE COLLEGE GUYS WHO STARTED A BAND TO ENTERTAIN OURSELVES BUT AFTER CALI WE REALIZED WE HAD SOMETHING SPECIAL.

WE CAME BACK TO TEXAS CAUSE IT WAS CHEAPER TO LIVE THERE AND WE WERE STARTING TO FIGHT. I THINK GIBBY TRIED TO GET ON A GAMESHOW. I STARTED HAVING 2ND THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BAND BECAUSE I WANTED TO GO BE A WRITER. WE PLAYED SOME SHOWS IN TEXAS

AFTER I LEFT I NEVER THOUGHT THEY’D BE LIKE U2 BUT I THOUGHT THEY'D DO OKAY. THEY WERE SO INCREDIBLY BLASPHEMOUS THAT I THOUGHT THEYD NEVER BE RADIO FRIENDLY ENOUGH. IN THE EARLY DAYS WE HAD MUCH MORE OF A POP SENSIBILITY BUT LATER ON THEY STARTED DOING ALL THAT REALLY WEIRD SHIT. YOU CAN’T BE LIKE A CIRCUS SIDE SHOW FOREVER. AT SOME POINT YOU GOTTA MAKE MONEY.

WE PLAYED WITH THE DK IN DALLAS AND PAUL AND GIBBY TOOK ALL THE MONEY AND WENT TO GIBBYS DADS HOUSE AND THEY DIDN’T WANT TO PAY ME AND QUINN SO I GOT IN A FIST FIGHT WITH GIBBY IN MR PEPPERMINTS FRONT YARD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. THAT WAS THE LAST TIME I PLAYED WITH THEM. IT’S A SHAME CAUSE WE WERE ALL SUCH GREAT FRIENDS BEFORE.

(c) 2001 Chris Smart

-x-

Unfortunately, very little in the way of live recordings has surfaced from this crucial period fer the band, although many old BOSS demos have come into circulation. Since King has expressed that he didn't want demos to appear on the web, I bring this gem instead. While it DOES appear on archive.org, this is a brand new transfer and is much better sounding than the one put up there.

A recording featuring many of the staples of the time period, and an amazing performance by the classic Mathews bros line-up:



Butthole Surfers
Bonham Exchange,
San Antonio, TX
May 27, 1982

SBD(x)>Onkyo TA-RW344 w\ azimuth correction>Cooledit Pro 2.0>.wav>flac (level 8)

1) Matchstick
2) BBQ Pope
3) (middle class u.s.a.)
4) D.O.A.
5) Radical West
6) Desert
7) I Hate My Job
8) Negro Observer
9) White, Dumb, Ugly & Poor
10) DNA
11) (werewolves)
12) Butthole Surfer
13) (I don’t know why)
14) Holy Man
15) (time to go)
16) Mexican Caravan

You can download this show here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EZAGQ1F7


My condolences go out to Quinn and the Mathews family

Butthole Surfers - ULU London, UK February 26, 1988

To celebrate the completion of recording 'Hairway to Steven', the band headed over to the UK fer a quick couple of weeks to do some press and play a couple of gigs. the Mean Fiddler is the more popular of this short stint fer winding up in the SNUB broadcast, but this here is equally as bizarre and fun to listen to.

There were no films, King went back to standing up, and no real stage show to speak of on this short excursion abroad...just wild drunken sets. Check it out:

Butthole Surfers
U.L.U.
London, UK
February 26, 1988

source\Lineage: AUD(1)>Onkyo TA-RW344 w\ azimuth correction>Cooledit Pro 2.0>.wav>CD)

CD 1
1) Backass
2) Ricky  
3) Roky
4) Julio
5) Sweat Loaf
6) Johnny Smoke
7) Psychedelic Jam
8) >scream sequence<
9) Graveyard Jam
10) Fast
CD 2
11) Gary Floyd
12) Strawberry
13) Paranoid
14) Dum Dum
15) Jimi
16) Kuntz
17) 22 Going On 23
18) Graveyard
19) The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey’s Grave
20) Pittsburg to Lebanon (cut)
21) Pittsburg to Lebanon (complete from alt x-gen source)

I had an x-gen recording from an obvious alternate source that had the complete last song...it is infintely inferior in sound quality, but hey...it's complete!...

Hope ya all enjoy, but please:

Don't sell this!
Please do not dissminate in MP3 format...I don't come to yer house and piss in yer pool...

notsaved

go here and get it!:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LJKW0Y96