In 1985, deep from the depths of Dallas, Texas, emerged a hellacious band now well-known around America for relentless touring, but much more, reviving and expanding an ever growing fascination of just a hellacious genre of psychobilly that’s a combined faster form of punkabilly and Southern barroom country music in an aggressive devil-knows-what substance-fueled sound. On top of an immense dedication to their craft that’s proven by a relentless touring schedule, Reverend Horton Heat gets down all over the U.S. as a countrified Dick Dale forming a punk band getting into a dragster just to crash it straight through an old oak tree—having wood, metal, gravel, spit, bottles of booze, leather and hair grease fly everywhere—only to keep trucking down the road unfazed afterwards, looking good doing it in the process.
The trio made up of Th’ Legendary Shack Shaker’s (“CB Song” appearance in a Geico Commerical in the early two thousand aughts, as well as their brilliantly devilish stage shows) former drummer Paul Simmons with his heart-stopping double bass drum, the band’s tenured heavy string-clanking upright bassist and lyric inspiring Jimbo Wallace, as well as founder Jim “Reverend Horton” Heath himself more than likely on a signature big-bodied Gretsch, the band has repeatedly paid the toll, after repaving the road of psychobilly that eventually leads into our quaint little Murfreesboro this month for a live show at Gilligan’s on March 18. Openers, beautifully punkgrassed sextet Larry and His Flask along with The Goddamn Gallows, will warm the audience before the good trio takes stage for a night of classy debauchery and evidence of more than 25 years of success.
Heat’s experience is evident after the quarter-century of performances with Jim Heath still jumping on top of Jimbo’s bass for a solo showing a lack of soulful aging despite some grey hairs and wrinkles. Commercial appeal, too, over the years (Levi’s Jeans ads among others, being selected for the official Daytona 500 music in 2002, and songs in the second Ace Ventura movie as well as in Guitar Hero) backs them, and not to forget 10 studio albums to their name beginning with their debut Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em released in November 1990. As all good bands do, they kept their growing audience waiting for at least a couple of years, if not four or five, before releasing another record just to insure a salivating cult audience would be present for the promotional tours. Now, in similar fashion after their 2009 release Laughin’ and Cryin’ (five years before that being their Christmas album, We Three Kings), Reverend Horton Heat is on the road once again, jumping states at times overnight, to promote an upcoming 11th release out of Yep Roc Records, 25 to Life, due out March 27.
Throughout the studio albums, Reverend Heat has gone back and forth from its in-your-face paced yet still youthful but maturing sound as they have dabbled in a little bit of everything the genre can offer. After their debut, the sophomore The Full Custom Gospel Sound of Reverend Horton Heat spit out originals including “Wiggle Stick,” “Bales of Cocaine” and “Big Little Baby” that would be staples in any psychobilly-founded church, such as the upcoming Muddy Roots festival that Heat and the Goddamn Gallows will perform, Heat headlining.
The small but big-at-heart greaser festival was headlined last year by Wanda Jackson in its second year of existence, but the fest remains steadfast in pulling in big names again this year during the latter part of August with the Goddamn Gallows blowing up on this particular circuit too. Their show last year will forever be tattooed in the minds of those that there, mainly because of the pools of sweat on stage after their workout of a performance including a dream-haunting sprite of a man wearing washboard armor that scared hell out of some, but made them feel comfortably at home in that valley.
Photo by Drew Reynolds
The Heat’s catalogue is solid up to 2005’s We Three Kings, the Christmas album that kind of screams mercy from the band. The follow-up Laughin’ and Cryin’ half a decade later, however, jumps right back into standard Heat fashion lyric-wise, but focuses more on the country side as opposed to the in-your-face rockabilly, leaving their new one a wonder anticipated by the Heat at heart and only previewed by attendants of the Gilligan’s show unless you wait until the end of the month.
If you’ve never heard or seen them before and want a taste of what you’ll get yourself into this night, they have videos online, of course, and a couple of good career-collective albums under their belts including a 20th Century Masters: Best of…. and The Reverend Horton Heat in Holy Rollers.
Speaking for their current Stewed, Screwed and Tattoed tour and their quarter-century’s worth, Heath said, “It’s kind of like ‘It’s time to stop and reflect.’ And I’m just, Ugh. No! I don’t want to stop and reflect. Screw that,” making a sort of gagging noise. “I remember it. I remember all that stuff. I don’t have to reflect on it. ‘That’s where we’ve been.’ No, I don’t like to think anything about where we’ve been,” he told the Oklahoman writer Brandy McDonnell before a recent show.
For more, visit reverendhortonheat.com. Visiting larryandhisflask.com and goddamngallows.com is not a waste of time either. This will be one hell of a night, people.
