Reverend Horton Heat tearing the roof off early in show with “The Party in Your Head.”
Later in the evening they slowed things down to play some requests like “Where in the hell did you go with my toothbrush.”
This was one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time. My son Mars is a huge fan and was at first super-excited when he found out Reverend Horton Heat was coming to The Orange Peel, then distraught when he saw it was not all ages. I convinced him to start contacting people, which led to him eventually to Bigsy of the RHH road crew. Bigsy made sure we could get in, and for that he will always be the man.
The whole show was great. One highlight was that it was Jimbo’s birthday. Road crew member Hoss brought a cake on stage, then after the candles were out proceeded to sing Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades” while Horton Heat shredded. Well done Hoss! I started to record that too but the crowd got to moshing and we were in the middle of it.
Jim Heath, the Reverend and Jimbo hung out after the show and Mars was able to get their autographs and chat briefly. They have had a huge influence on him and are the reason he has mowed a lot of grass to get a hollow body guitar, and he now has an upright bass in his sights. I had printed the email from Bigsy, because I wanted to be sure I could get the boy in, and Mars got it autographed by Jim and Jimbo.
Acquired: 1988 – Bought at our store RIP Records in Norfolk, VA
Keeper: No
God Bullies music is not for everybody. I know I got “Fear and Pain” when my brother and I had a record store, and I think I may have bought from our guy at Sub-Pop, which I realize seems unlikely since this is on another label, Amphetamine Reptile Records, and the band is from Michigan. Maybe I got it somewhere else… Anyhow, the cover art reminds me of engravings or wood cuts that I saw in a book I read about Vlad the Impaler. Fun. The song “Fear and Pain” is another number I would describe as more metal than metal. Whereas the other side, “Kick it to Sleep”, has a more familiar indy dirge feel. Kinda interesting, but I don’t need to hear it again. This one is number 304 of 600.
Acquired: 1988 – Promo at our store RIP Records in Norfolk, VA.
I was thinking this Inca Babies record, “Evil Hour”, sounded familiar in some way, but I wasn’t sure why. I thought maybe there was some milder Birthday Party thing happening, but that seemed like a lazy comparison. Then, I read this article about the Inca Babies at Trouser Press. Turns out, I’m not lazy. It looks like this was their last release and apparently they had started finding their groove, but overall this record wasn’t as exciting as I remembered.
Update: Inca Babies’ new site is up and running, and they have a new “best of” called Plutonium out on Cherry Red Records.
Acquired: 1989 – Bought it for myself when we had RIP Records.
Keeper: Yes
I was reading about these guys at Trouser Press and I realized that I got into them near the end. Apparently in their earlier work they were influenced by Birthday Party/Nick Cave. I never noticed from this record which is heavy, in a more conventional way, but the vocals are similarly intense or insane, you decide. In some ways it’s similar to Head of David in the way the riffs are layered up to create these fantastic metallic dirges, but, again, the vocals are way more intense.
The Brain Surgery Experience
Want to know what it's like to have brain surgery? Well here's the long version of my experience. Complete with pictures and videos! Read all about the Brain Surgery Experience.
