A puritan work ethic, a spare tire and enough suave to kill are
the Reverend Horton Heat's tools, and what they bang out is music so prime it
tears up any pretensions ever dragged into rock 'n' roll. The Reverend (guitar and vocals) began as a guitar-playing orphan prodigy, spending much of his teen years in an Eastern Texas Juvenile Correction Facility. At age 17 he hit the streets, supporting himself as a street musician and a pool shark. After a few years of hustling, the Rev found himself playing punked-up, swaggering psychobilly with Taz (drums) and Jimbo (bass).
The Rev himself sports a dumfounding ability to survive despite the unnerving odds stacked against his lifestyle. For example, recording with Gibby Haynes (The Butthole Surfers) for The Full Custom Gopsel Sounds Of The Reverend Horton Heat, the group ran out of mix for their Bloody Marys. Ingeniously, they concocted a drink known now as a Bloody Leroy, using barbecue sauce instead of tomato juice. Their most recent album, Liquor in the Front was produced by Al Jourgensen (Ministry). And this album bites faster, straighter and meaner.
The Rev proclaims his number-one hero is Jerry Lee Lewis, "because he was the wildest. I would never try to emulate his lifestyle...He was a wild person. The best rock n' roll stories are all about Jerry Lee. He shot his bass player one time then bitched at him for bleedin' on his new white car. He's mean."*
Sin, sex and substance abuse aside, most important is the immediateness and authenticity of the music. The band is rooted in rock, rhythm and blues, but never to re-interpret and co-opt, instead only to chronicle and create. God is not amused (but he is grinning).
Discography
Psychobilly Freakout / Baby You Know Who 7"
Smoke 'em If You Got 'em
Bullet, I'm Mad, Bad Reputation, It's a Dark Day, Big Dwarf Rodeo,
Psychobilly Freakout, Put It To Me Straight, Marijuana, Baby,
You Know Who, Eat Steak, "D" For Dangerous, Love Whip
The Full Custom Gospel Sounds Of...
Wiggle Stick, 400 Bucks, The Devil's Chasing Me,
Livin' On The Edge (of Houston), You Can't Get Away From Me,
Beer:30, Big Little Baby, Lonesome Train Whistle, Bales Of Cocaine,
Loaded Gun, Nurture My Pig, Gin and Tonic Blues
Rev. Horton Heat / Supersuckers
Supersuckers / 400 Bucks, Rev. Horton Heat / Caliente,
Rev. Horton Heat / 400 Bucks, Supersuckers / Caliente
Liquor In The Front
Big Sky, Baddest Of The Bad, One Time For Me, Five-O Ford,
In Your Wildest Dreams, Yeah Right, Cruisin' For A Bruisin',
I Could Get Used To It, Liquor Beer & Wine, I Can't Surf, Jezebel,
Rockin' Dog, The Entertainer
