“Did you see that picture of Renner? Holding the pan flute?” asks Joel Goode of the newly reunited country-metal band The Hellbillies.
“Renner wants everyone to know he’s been living in the woods for four years mastering the pan flute. That’s a true story.”
Goode, aka Festus McGillacutty, isn’t really sure what his other Hellbilly bandmates have been doing since their most recent final—there have been many “finals”—farewell show in September 2011 at the Muddy Roots festival.
Rhythm guitarist and frontman Michael Renner (Mongoose McNichols), guitarist Trey Call, singers Paige Crockett and Nicole Arnette, bassist Sam Baker and long-lost drummer Scott Cooper parted ways after that show three years ago, mainly because Cooper was moving to Colorado.
“We called it quits,” Goode says. “We lost a good friend who was an essential part of it. After that, it was time to be done. Now, enough time has gone by and we miss each other.”
Thus, The Hellbillies dubbed their July 11 show at The Boro a family reunion, which should be a drunken homecoming for not just the bands, but their fans and haters, because, after all, The Hellbillies are “the most hated band in town.”
While Renner was perfecting the pan flute, Goode has been working on his garden, cooking and housekeeping skills, he says.
“Scott—no one knows what he’s doing. He’s lost 50 pounds out there, he’s skinny as hell, so he’s probably selling a lot of drugs. No one will recognize him,” Goode says dryly.
“Sam is mysterious, he wears a mask, and he’s a tiny guy, so maybe he’s been under a bridge somewhere. And Trey has been working at Liquid Smoke and playing guitar with every band in town.”
The Hellbillies met 12 years ago when Renner and the band’s original guitarist were the only two contestants in an amateur male stripper review held at Sebastian’s, a now defunct venue once located on North Maple Street.
“Then they collected me at a bar a few weeks later,” Goode says.
“I was scared of Renner; I thought there was something really fucking off about him. The bartender Trey, who ended up being our lead guitarist, he told me he’s all right. Then Trey ended up in the band.”
Now the time is right, or in Goode’s words, it was Renner’s 40th birthday, he wanted to reunite the band, and “he’s pretty self-centered, so that was it.”
Cooper is flying in from the west to rejoin his bandmates, best known for imbibing copious amounts of alcohol, dressing up and painting their faces for their live shows.
And they’ve got planned some 3D effects, which are an “extra-special super secret.” Goode will not offer any other hints other than to “use your imagination.”
“The most important part of the entire evening is to consume a shitload of alcohol,” he says.
“Of course we’ve got a game plan, which is to have no plan at all. We’re going to get together maybe once beforehand and get drunk and do the show at The Boro.”
Goode says extreme talent on par with Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue and Taylor Swift as well as good looks are what keep the band members coming back to each other time and again, and yet anyone coming to the reunion show shouldn’t have high expectations.
“A lot of people probably forgot how shitty we were. They’ll be disappointed,” Goode says.
And after?
“We’re getting all our camping gear together right after the show and going to East Tennessee and get drunk as hell, and that is it,” he says.
“I don’t foresee us doing anything else. This is our fourth comeback. We just want to see everybody. After that, who knows, maybe we’ll play the old folks home one day or a local Walmart.”
The Hellbillies perform at The Boro on Friday, July 11; admission is $6.
