Who would have thunk it -- more than a quarter of the way into the 21st century, the post-hardcore punk band releasing a new album would be the Butthole Surfers? Not bands with ascendant songwriting talent like the Replacements or Husker Du.
Not a critical darling like Sonic Youth or a tough-as-nails survivor like Black Flag. No – it is Gibby Haynes, Paul Leary, and King Coffey who managed the feat. I mean, honestly – how many of us thought Gibby would still be in the land of the living in 2026?
But that is just what the legendary Texas trio has pulled off. After the Astronaut, which dropped this week, is the ninth formal studio album released by the band. It comes 25 years after their last original release – 2001’s Weird Revolution.
Long-awaited “new” Butthole Surfers’ album provides a fitting farewell
Of course, as with so many things Butthole Surfer-related, what I just said isn’t exactly the whole story. After the Astronaut isn’t exactly a “new” album. Gibby, Paul, and King recorded these tracks almost thirty years ago.
This album was supposed to come out in 1998, as a follow-up to their most successful album, Electriclarryland. Things didn’t go according to plan. When the Butthole Surfers are involved, things rarely go according to plan.
For reasons that remain murky, Capitol Records chose not to release After the Astronaut in 1998. Instead, those recordings were packaged as the 2001 album Weird Revolution, released on a different label. It wasn’t exactly hated back in the day.
But it did serve as a sign that the band was no longer relevant. They had softened the noise without enough of a return on whatever the new synth-heavy, trip-hop vibe was shooting for.
Or they had just plain sold out in an attempt to replicate the commercial success of Electriclarryland’s breakout hit “Pepper.” Among the culprits on Weird Revolution were the sterile boogie of “Get Down” and the Kid Rock-penned “The Shame of Life.”
Those two songs have been jettisoned, along with “Dracula From Houston” and “S**t We Do.” The first three were wise omissions. (I kind of miss S**t We Do”) They also dropped the silly hidden track reprise of “The Last Astronaut.” Hidden tracks were once a thing, but like Fidget Spinners, they have thankfully gone away.
In their place, Leary, who remixed the new album, has added four new tracks. Three of them – “Imbuya,” “Junky Jenny in Gaytown,” and “Turkey and Dressing” are among the best cuts on the album. The fourth, “I Don’t Have a Problem,” is the worst. How Butthole Surfer is that? They were a band that made unevenness a raison d’etre. It’s nice to know that they are going out on that note.
Leary also adjusted the order of the tracks, and it does make a lot more sense now. “Weird Revolution” opens the proceedings with Gibby’s rather juvenile preaching about the relative value of integration and separation. The lyrics are trite, the music is cool
Then we get two songs that were already released as singles – “Intelligent Guy” and “Jet Fighter.” These songs were also fairly well-known to fans since both had been included on the 2001 album and have been available in various bootleg copies over the years.
Now we finally get fully evolved editions and it merely makes Capitol’s original decision to shelve this album all the more confounding. Either of these tracks could have been the next “Pepper,” if that’s what the label was looking for.
Today, they may sound a bit nostalgic, but in the best possible way. The Butthole Surfers fans who think everything went downhill after 1987’s Locust Abortion Technician may not rejoice at hearing fresh versions of these songs, but if you like ”Pepper,” you are going to like hearing these songs in 2026.
The album hits a peak in the middle with the back-to-back power of “Imbuya” and “Venus.” The first track is a perfect blend of old and new – noise and beat – while the latter, which was on Weird Revolution back in the day, gets a new lease on life. It is also a bit of a hash, blending Gibby’s folksy talking with a spacy trip hop rhythm.
“Venus” is one of the best tracks on the new album, and it is interesting for me to consider whether I like it more because Leary has offered a strong mix or because time has been kind. In 2001, this song had trouble standing out. Today, it somehow sounds fresher than it did when it was written.
That is true of the album as a whole. Part of it is nostalgia for a band we assumed was lost. But part of it stands on its own merits. “Intelligent Man” and “Jet Fighter” are strong songs at any point. “Imbuya” and “Venus” are powerful sonic explorations.
Toward the end, “They Came In” and the newly released “Turkey and Dressing” are actual rock & roll, albeit filtered through the subversive and noisy lens that the Surfers gave to all their tunes. Is this where Paul and Gibby were headed had they continued putting out new music? If so, we missed out on a lot.
Of course, there are also tracks on which that old penchant for just producing weird noise regardless of structure reminds us where this band came from. On “Yentil,” that is abrasive but at least intriguing. On “I Don’t Have a Problem,” it is simply the former. And for some reason, it runs a full five minutes.
In the end, After the Astronaut is like welcoming home your long-lost weird cousin – the one who had grown tiresome and who you didn’t think you’d miss. The one who would randomly spout rhymes like
“God, Zeus, Allah, Buddha
Bob Dylan on a motor scooter
Allah, Buddha, God, Zeus
Gotta get me a red caboose…”
That’s Gibby on the patently absurd “Mexico.”
It turns out, you really did miss that cousin and are very happy he has incongruously returned.
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