Interview with the butthole surfers. sept. 22. 1984 New York City The butthole surfers were interviewed by Donny the Punk at around 5 a.m. in a Second Ave. eaterie. after they had been in Gotham for 6 weeks and played 9 shows,

(Update) -The butthole surfers have a new bassist (Suziphone/ Trombone also) named Trevor  Malcolm from Ontario. He used to be in "Celsius Worm" and joined B.S. in Feb. They are now in Detroit  recording a new LP "Rembrandt Pussyhorse."

Donny: What are your plans?

Gibby: We're going to assemble thermonuclear device and blow up New York City.

Donny: How did the band get Started?

Gibby: Myself and Paul are the original members. We started in San Antonio. (went thru several bass  players and drummers) About 4 years ago. The EP was recorded 2 years ago; the live EP was released yesterday. (They have 2 LPs recorded and due to be released in the next few months). Having 2 drummers is since the EP.

Donny: How did that come about?

King: Me and Teresa are brother and sister and we started playing at the various Texas high school marching bands, around Austin and more so around Ft. Worth. I joined the band and it was natural that Teresa should try it eventually.

Donny: You're played at so many different clubs in New York. all the clubs have (their own crowds], not like Austin or San Antonio.

King: I don't want to get Just the hardcores; I want to get anybody that can get into the band. that feels like going to a show to see the Butthole Surfers.

Donny: What club have you enjoyed playing the most.

B.S.: CBGB's was great; Peppermint was really good: Danceteria sucked.

Donny: At CBGB's there was a lot of slam-dancing tonight: has that happened anywhere else?

King: I did a slow-motion Stage dive at the Peppermint.. We're not a slam-dancing band; we don't have that beat.

Donny: But the fact that a lot of people slammed  tonight  tells  me something; obviously, your music is slam- danceable.

King: I don't even slam-dance. I weigh 115 lbs.; any girl can knock me over. I can't do it. it hurts me too much. I don't think we're a slam-dance band. I think we're a drug-induced weirdo Grateful-dead-of-the-1990's kind of band. (laughter)

Donny: Do you get a lot of flak on account of your name?

King: Only from people in fanzines asking us Wherever did you get that name?'

Donny: What does it mean?

King: (Laughter) We have no idea. Our parents give us more harassment about the name than people in clubs. Nobody else really cares.

Gibby: Think of all the punk bands that have had names like Throbbing Bristle and the Sex Pistols. Cleopatra's Vagina.  Fred Astaire's Asshole. Black Poop....

Donny: (to Gibby) Do you usually get down to your underpants?

Gibby: Sometimes less.

King: You have to be growing up stupid in Texas to really appreciate stupidity.

Donny: You've been around New York long enuf to make some observations..

Gibby: New York has too much pizza; everybody I know eats only pizza: It brings me down... The cross-section of people in New York is cool. All the different people, you can't go down the street in San Antonio and see all the Rastafarians.

King: Texas is a nation of white bread, a bunch of pigs and cowboys and white bread.

Donny: Do you try to be deliberately outrageous on stage?

King: I think the word is literally outrageous; we're a reflection of a deliberately outrageous society.

Donny: You-all struck me as being squarely in classical punk tradition.

B.S.: OK, Yeah. As far as being traditionalist. as doing whatever you want to do.

Donny: Exactly.

King: I can't relate to thrash anymore. There's been some great thrash bands for three years and I can't deal with it anymore.

Donny: Do you feel that the dominance of hardcore as a subtype of punk is now receding, that there's more room now. or do you think there's just a hardening of the arteries?

King: It seems to me that there's a  growing  skinhead/  Nazi  punk/ right-wing   punk   thing   going on nationwide.  In  San Francisco it's growing, in New York it's growing. in Austin there are hints of it. I don't think it will ever become a major issue or major ordeal but it's sort of the 'we're not punks, we're skins' that sort of mentality. I think it's great to see bands like Sonic Youth from New York and Hüsker Dü from Minneapolis who are really cool bands playing music from the heart and doing what they want to do. That's what punk was about from the beginning, anyway. Do anything different at all.

Donny: What do you-all as a band talk about/sing about.?

Gibby: They're "basically abstractions.

Donny: How does a song come about?

Gibby: Usually someone gets either a bass rhythm or a guitar melody; it evolves into a structure and then lyrics are added later.

Teresa: In New York like we recorded two songs we'd been playing as instrumentals. and Gibby added vocals in the Studio . they'd never had any before then.

Donny: What role does psychedelics play in your life as a band?

Gibby: I'd say we are. at least I personally am influenced by the psychedelic experience.

King: We all are. I think psychedelics might be the best drug. You see different things, experience different things. Psychedelics to me is. Sounds corny but its like a new experience every time I do it.

Donny: How does it affect your playing and singing?

King: sometimes we do acid on stage and do some of our best shows.

Donny: Do you get song ideas when you're tripping?

King: Oh yeah, you can like concentrate, groove on things, different drones, sounds". I think were a better band to see on LSD, more than say Suicidal Tend. or the Cramps. I would hate to see Black Flag on acid.

Donny: Do you recommend to the consumer that the best way to listen to a Surfers' recording would be to drop acid first and then listen to it?

Gibby: I think that would be a good way to do it.

Donny: Would you like to see your vinyl  reviewed by reviewers who are in that condition?

Gibby: Yes. I think so. I think you'd have less of the usual questions-.We had a fan tell us. "I once listened to your record 15 times straight while I was tripping."

Donny:  Isn't  that  a  contradiction in terms? (Laughter)

King: I don't think it's a really vital to be on LSD to appreciate the band. I just enjoy LSD 'cause it's different and I can just watch the walls melt.

Donny:  Acid  does  tend  to  melt categories, take you out of pigeonholes: I wonder whether that relates to
the music of the band: you-all don't fit into any pigeonholes or categories as a band.

King: I like it cause it gets you out of fucked-up roles: I like the strobe lights,  the wild guitar. We're not like an LSD band per se. we don't take it every time we hit the stage.

Donny: How old are you-all?

Gibby: Paul and I are 27. Terence is 25. Kane and Teresa are 20 and 21.

King: I'm really into everyone in the audience really hating us.

* The Butthole Surfers are Paul Leary on gtr. and Bass Gibby Vocals, gtr. and sax King Coffee and Teresa Taylor on drums and frequently changing bassists. Paul was absent from this interview. The   band's  most  recent LP is "Another Man's Sac", but the butthole surfers' fame rests primarily on their incredible live performances. In the past year, they have been mostly located in the Midwest and on the east coast, though they began in Austin. Texas in 1981. Notable for their double drums (King and Teresa have been know to switch drum sets in mid-song without missing a beat! and Gibby's exuberant singing,  the band plays a wide variety of music within a broad "punk" framework.