GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN
Who
This show was also coming just two days after The Flaming Lips. Sadly I wouldn't be seeing The Bee Gees too, but it was a nice continuation to a great week of live music! I'd got the day off work and had arrived late so that I could get on with other things during the afternoon. I'd also gave Locust Abortion Technician another whirl, and it's fascinating that such a crazy album is considered their most popular. I went to the door of the Wulfrun to be greeted with a sign directing me back to The Civic. I thought for one exciting moment that good taste had got Butthole Surfers promoted to the larger venue but no such luck, they were playing the Civic Bar! This was interesting as I'd never seen a band playing there before and the room was alright. It took ages to get two Newcastle Brown's as only the side bar was open. A bit frustrating that the huge nice bar had been closed off, but they obviously didn't have the staff to populate it! The crowd was a fascinating mix between youngsters, older fans and a few proper ageing punks. I guess you'd expect Butthole Surfers to attract a few "fearless freaks", and I've got to remember that they could even be described as greebo! Despite the small size of the venue most people here were keen on the band, rather than the casual audience I was half expecting. Paul Green's Rock School were already performing and I wondered why after one song they all vacated the stage to be replaced by another band.
After studying them for a bit it became clear that they actually were a rock school featuring a revolving line-up of teenage kids playing rock music. They were interesting individuals who appeared to be Butthole Surfers fans and presumably had written all the songs that they were performing. One kid bravely got past the annoyance of a non-functional mic by just grabbing one from a backing singer. It passed the time quite nicely, but a slightly risqué chant of "we love the Buttholes!" reminded us why we were here tonight! Indeed The Butthole Surfers themselves were setting up their equipment! Someone in the bar praised my Screamadelica t-shirt, by saying "Primal Scream - not bad!" to which I generously replied to his t-shirt with "Black Sabbath - not bad either!" There were quite a few Flaming Lips t-shirts floating around, including some which had been acquired from the Lovebox festival. I also think I may have heard The Matrix theme before the band came onstage, but I could have imagined this? The Buttholes came onstage with 22 Going On 23, which is a downright weird distorted tune, but it worked well enough. If I had to describe the Surfers I'd say that that they were a cross between Nirvana and The Flaming Lips but with added sick weirdness. The singer Gibby Haynes looked normal enough, indeed a bit of a geek in his glasses and t-shirt. The band are unsettling mainly because of the sound they make rather than the people they appear to be. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, creating a small but mad moshpit to plenty of tunes I didn't know thanks to my limited grasp of their back catalogue. There was also some stripping and jumping on each others backs going on in the pit, creating a small but real sense of madness.
Very few phones were trained on the band to record proceedings, so at the time it felt like we were harking back to a pre-mobile age. I sort-of let the side down by trying for a few photos myself. Gibby, the guitarist and the bald drummer have in fact been together since 1983. Teresa Nervosa was a second drummer but I do wonder if this is ever necessary to have in a band? Finally, the bassist had a nice little beard and looked like he'd had felt at home in a metal group. My favourite tune is Goofy's Concern but this was dispatched with minimal fuss quite early in the set. There were a few shout-outs for Sweat Loaf and it went down very well despite the slightly truncated introduction and the fact that Gibby left the stage to let his band do the rock-out. I took a great phone video of the tune but for some random reason the sound didn't work, rendering it useless! The band spent quite a bit of time onstage complaining. Gibby was unhappy with the lack of monitors as he said several times. He was thankful to the crowd for creating a good reaction and it certainly sounded alright from our perspective, but he wasn't happy with how it sounded from onstage. He also criticised the lackluster lightshow and there was some half-visible video projections which were hidden where the audience couldn't see them, which was quite annoying as it was obvious that the band had intended for a decent light show and freaky videos to back them up, which they were denied at this smaller venue! Also the drummers and bassist repeatedly left the stage to be replaced by members of Paul Green's Rock School who enthusiastically joined in, including a trio of girls screaming backing vocals to one of the tunes. I noted too that the guitarist sung one or two which were quite decent. I knew very few of the songs so it was a particular surprise that the Buttholes decided to omit Pepper, which is probably their only actual chart-bothering hit.
It was hard to judge Gibby. He did complain a lot about the sound and the lights, but he did sing the songs properly and praise the crowd. Yet, on the other hand, he actually took time out of one song to send an onstage txt message! Nevertheless, the band had earned my respect as they finished their main set and left the stage. The lights remained down and everyone started to clap and scream for an encore. One guy even jokingly pretended to steal a guitar! After five minutes or so, the lights went up and we looked around in shock: The self-indulgent twats weren't bothering to come back on! The soundmen had obviously taken it for granted that they would have done and left the lights down but, if you're going to be lazy and inconsiderate, then don't pretend for a few minutes that you are going to play the encore! Quite a few people bottled the stage and the show had finished on a very low note, destroying some of the goodwill that the band had earned. It had all been rather loud yet my ears weren't whistling at all, and I enjoyed a totally unnecessary battered sausage and chips and started to draft the review on my mobile while waiting around for the train. I was glad I went but the Buttholes had almost gone out of their way to alienate their crowd by many of their antics, and their status as a weirder and less talented version of The Flaming Lips has now been set in stone. And my mood wasn't improved when my alarm randomly decided not to wake me up for work the next day either!
Mark: 7.5/10
Butthole Surfers
Support
Paul Green's Rock School
Where
Wolverhampton Civic Bar
When
22nd July 2008
Price
£15.00
Who with
No-one
Position
In the middle
Comments
Butthole Surfers is obviously the kind of band name that gets your attention, but I think they first crossed my radar when The Flaming Lips were described as a cross between Butthole Surfers and The Bee Gees. Also I'd heard Sweat Loaf from an NME CD based on Kurt Cobain's favourite tracks and, most surprisingly, downloaded a decent song called Detachable Penis which I thought was by Butthole Surfers for many months but in fact turned out to be by King Missile! I always intended to buy the Butthole Surfers back catalogue but never got round to it for one reason or another, but upon realising that the "classic" five-piece line-up would be reforming for the first time since 1989 and playing Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall I knew I couldn't miss it. I purchased three albums - Locust Abortion Technician, Independent Worm Saloon and Electriclarryland - to ensure that I was a proper fan in time with some knowledge of the songs. This worked out quite nicely as each album has a memorable "hit" on - Sweat Loaf, Goofy's Concern and Pepper respectively - and were all pretty strong. I also had a look on YouTube to try and give myself an idea of what the show would be like but there were no recent clips at all. I could find one from The Reading Festival in 1993 but very little else! It was quite exciting to think that nobody would have the slightest idea what to expect because the band hadn't toured for so long!
