New Historical Live Butthole Surfers Record!

 

Butthole Surfers released a live album today! Live At the Leather Fly is on all streamers and available for order on vinyl. It doesn't look like distributor Sunset Blvd Records has a web store, however, one thing I thought was pretty cool is their "buy" link takes you to the standard link tree, only the Record Store Day website sits atop all the other links. From this website, you can order the record from a list of independent record stores nationwide. I thought that was pretty cool.

Apparently, the Leather Fly is not a real club, and there's no real record of when this show took place that I could find. Presumably, the liner notes might have something. However, this is the Butthole Surfers we're talking about...

"Back in the 80s Gibby used to fantasize about a nightclub called the Leather Fly. He wanted it to have a stuffed leather fly hanging in front of it." - That's a Paul Leary quote that's on the youtube page for this song. The album has a fantastic track listing, leaning heavily on pre-Capitol Records Surfers (the best Surfers) but with a peppering of what may have been early versions of tracks that would wind up on that Capitol debut, Independent Worm Saloon. I thought about posting something older than what I went with, but this version of "The Annoying Song" is pretty epic, and it just kind of felt right to put this out in the world today.

---

---

---

NCBD:

I spent Monday-Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio on a totally impromptu trip based around K's Grandmother's failing health, so I did not get a chance to make it out to the comic shop until last night. Here's what I brought home:

The new arc begins and Megatron is back, kicking ass and taking names. This series has a level of brutality to it that I very much appreciate - one major character meets a crazy, violent end in this one, and it adds to the chaotic uncertainty that haunts the characters. That's a pretty cool approach to the Transformers, who historically kind of hit the ground running wherever you drop them.

Lemire and Walta bring us a new chapter in the current story arc, "The Horror Men," and it's more Highway-based X-Files meets Twin Peaks. We're going deep and dancing on the precipice of some answers, but that only makes it feel like we might have a much bigger picture than first alluded to. Love this book so very much.

I'm pretty bummed to see Justin Jordan and Maan House's Mine is a Long, Lonesome Grave end. This final issue felt a bit rushed, but that might just mean I need to re-read the entire arc from the beginning. There's a much wider world we're only scratching at here, and I'd love to know more about the lineage of "the Weaver Witches" that we come in at the end of. 

Before I dig into the fourth and final issue of The Hive, I'm going to go back and re-read the entire series. This one has some story compression that I came at lopsided, and when I read last month's issue #3, I felt a bit lost. Really cool story and art, though, and with the collected "Volume One" announced for August, I'm hoping we might get a second volume at some point.

I had completely forgotten James Tynion IV and Michael Walsh's Exquisite Corpses started up this week. I know nothing about this one other than it is a double-sized (at least) book. Very much looking forward to reading this.

Oh my! I heard there was a big surprise in this year's Energon Universe Special, but I wasn't prepared for... 

Matt Trakker from M.A.S.K.! I wasn't really into MASK as a kid - there was a limit to what my folks would buy me and I think I somehow inherently understood that to add another toyline to my obsession would seriously delute what I could procure from Joe and Transformers - so I'm not nearly as invested in their presence being brought into the Energon Universe as others might be, however, I think it's awesome this is unfolding the way it is.

 

This is yet another notch in Oni Press's 2025 championship belt! Dark Regards is a comedic Black Metal tale of the forming of the band Witch Taint and, ah, Lance, the King of Black Metal! First issue delivered the goods on satire, so I'm in. 

Very pleased to see Batman: Dark Patterns is going a full 8 issues! 

---

---

---

Watch:

This is everything everyone is saying it is, and yes, I almost threw up.

 

How I made it 65% of the way through the film without realizing it's a take on Cinderella, I don't know. What I do know is The Ugly Stepsister is fantastic - dark and funny and gross and poignant, and Writer/Director Emilie Blichfeldt is one to watch. For your first film to be a period piece of such social and psychological scope is no small feat, and a lot of props should go out to the cast, as well. Especially lead Lea Myren, who goes through every possible emotion on film, sometimes in the course of a few seconds. The things "Elvira" goes through are... insane. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Tangerine Dream - Phaedra

Black Flag - My War

The Cops - Free Electricity

Turnstile - GLOW ON

Run The Jewels - RTJ4

Death Grips - The Money Store

Death Grips - No Love/Deep Web

This Movie Saved My Life Podcast - Unwatchable II

Crime Weekly Podcast - Rey Rivera Part 4

LARD - Pure Chewing Satisfaction

Airiel - Audiotree Live

Airiel - Molten Young Lovers

Les Discrets - Prédateurs

Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood (single)

Killing Joke - Love Like Blood (single)

Killing Joke - Night Time

Killing Joke - Outside the Gate

Genghis Tron - Board Up the House

Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth

Rollins Band - Sessions on West 54th (2/26/00)

Henry Rollins & Mother Superior - Get Some Go Again Sessions

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

Interpol - Antics

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Queen of Swords

• Page of Swords

• X: Wheel of Fortune

When Emotions affect Earthly concerns, indecision can look a lot like opportunity and vice versa.

Man, this tells me nothing! I think this is work, but I'm so out of touch with the cards and work at the moment, I'm going to have to just keep an eye on my emotions when dealing with certain folks. 

Ministry w/ Chris Connelly - Do ya Think I'm Sexy (5/9/25 The Riv)

 

Courtesy of In the Loop Magazoine's Youtube channel, which you can check out HERE for all the cool stuff they post!

---

---

---

Watch:

I'm about halfway through this and I cannot recommend it enough:

---

---

---

Playlist:

Dum Dum Girls - Too True

Preoccupations - Ill at ease

Dreamkid - Daggers

Crime Weekly Podcast - Rey Rivera Part 3

Slayer - Decade of Aggression

Ministry - Psalm 69

---

---

---

The Jeff Healey Band - Road House (The Lost Soundtrack)

Weird rabbit hole yesterday wherein I saw The Jeff Healey Band's The Lost Roadhouse Soundtrack had recently been released. This immediately sent me to YouTube, where I found and watched Healey's 1988 Network television debut on the old NBC Lettermen show and although I saw it when it aired and have seen it a handful of times since, I was once again completely blown away. It's hard not to be. This, in turn, led to my discovery of a forthcoming Jeff Healey documentary, See the Light.

---

---

---

Watch:

Looks like this one is in pre-production, but still hopeful for a 2025 release. Nice crop of interview subjects (Steve Cropper!), and a really love realizing that there seems to be a healthy 'Cult of Jeff' out there. I've talked about this here before, but being a consummate Lettermen fan from a young age, I was exposed to Healey throughout the 80s on the show and he always blew me away. I didn't turn out the biggest fan of The Blues as a genre, however, key songs and artists from that era made an impact on me, Healey perhaps more than most. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Preoccupations - Ill At Ease

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous

Pinky Tuscadero's Whiteknuckle Assfuck - Halfway to Honky Heaven

Dum Dum Girls - Too True

George Michael - Faith

Prince - Sign O' The Times

Various - The Daptone Super Soul Revue LIVE at the Apollo

Various - Cowboy Bebop OST

Anthrax - Among the Living

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Rendition Was In)

The Fixx - Reach the Beach

Huey Lewis and the News - Sports

The Jeff Healey Band - Road House (The Lost Soundtrack)

Led Zeppelin - I

Sha Na Na - The Night Is Still Young

Orville Peck - Pony

Led Zeppelin - IV

INXS - Kick

The Plimsouls - Everywhere At Once

Drab Majesty - Careless

---

---

---

Card:

Such a beautiful card. At times, this is my favorite in the deck. There is a cosmic or eternal renewal association with this card, and that's what I'm connecting to at the moment. I'm not sure how that fits into my current day-to-day, but as usual, when stymied, I keep my eyes peeled. 

New Music From Preoccupations

 

When I added Preoccupations back into my regular rotation a week or two ago, I had zero idea they had a new album coming out. I woke up this morning and saw Apple's push notification that Ill At Ease had been released, promptly made coffee and have been sitting outside listening to it in the post-storm morning since. Exceptional album! A surprise like this is so rare these days, and I am cherishing it! You can purchase Ill At Ease from Born Losers Records HERE.

---

---

---

Watch:

I was super excited to see Sean Byrne's new flick, Dangerous Animals, is getting a wide theatrical push. I still say Devil's Candy would have been an absolute banger if it had played theatres, but, unfortunately, it came out before this new post-pandemic, Independent Horror friendly world we live in.,

While I'm not really one for mean-spirited torture films, I've come to know Byrne's work enough to know this will be something more than it seems when it opens on June 6th.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Gibby Haynes - Third Man Records Blue Series

The Black Belles - What Can I Do? (single)

The Raveonettes - PE'AH II

Pinky Tuscadero's Whiteknuckle Assfuck - Halfway to Honky Heaven

Ghost - Skeletá

Ghost - Impera

James Williams - Possessor OST

Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous

---

---

---

Set Adrift on NCBD Bliss

P.M. Dawn's 1991 album Of the Body, Of the Soul and the Cross: The Utopian Experience is now available on streamers! 

I talked a lot about this one back in January of 2021 - basically, this is a song and now an album that, while I wasn't overtly into at the time of its release (I would have been fifteen), has become a huge nostalgia trigger for me. Very cool to finally listen to the entire record.

---

---

---

NCBD:

A solid week of books. Let's get into it:

Plague House's first issue sold me on two things: 1) I am all-in on Michael W. Conrad and Dave Chisholm's Haunted House book, and 2) Oni Press has already captured 2025 as their year, in my opinion.

James Tynion IV and Steve Foxe's Jersey Devil bio has had some pretty crazy moments in it so far, so although I'm kind of looking for books to cut at the moment, I'm definitely going to hang with this one until it ends with issue four. Piotr Kowalski's art, in particular, has really added an ominous sense of momentum to this story.

The cover alone sells the F_CK out of this book.

I completely forgot about this Black Metal-infused, supernatural Folk Horror revenge book by Brian Azzarello, Vanesa Del Rey and Hilary Jenkins. I dug the first two issues, so my forgetfulness is caused by this one's bi-monthly release schedule more than disinterest.

---

---

---

Watch:

The full trailer for Together dropped a few days ago, and while I'll leave it right here for posterity's sake, not watching this one.

Written and Directed by Michael Shanks and starring Dave Franco, Alison Brie, and one of my favorite actors, Damon Herriman, Together carries with it an unstated implication that this will be this year's big Body Horror movie. I find such an unquantifiable thrill in having this sub-genre on its way to becoming a household word. Blows me away. 

Together is slated to hit theatres August 1st, and I will be there opening day!

---

---

---

Playlist:

Drab Majesty - Careless

Various - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jehu

The Birthday Party - Mutiny/The Bad Seed EP

Godflesh - Decline and Fall EP

Antibalas - Where The Gods Are In Peace

P.M. Dawn - Of the Heart, Of the Soul and the Cross: The Utopian Experience

Matt Cameron - Gory Scorch Cretins EP

Soundgarden - Super Unknown

Steve Moore - Christmas, Bloody Christmas OST

Zombi - Shape Shift

Walter Rizzati - House By the Cemetery OST

Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous

Black Sabbath - Sabotage

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works

OLD - The Musical Dimensions of Sleastak

Zombi - Direct Inject

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Four of Swords

• Queen of Pentacles

• King of Cups

Stability in the Will as applied to Earthly matters is entangled with Emotion and thus, leads to conflict. Nearly a perfect summation of my last few days of work.

HEALTH x Chelsea Wolfe

 

A new collaboration between HEALTH and Chelsea Wolfe dropped overnight, and it's probably my favorite thing Health has released in a while (although I've been slacking on them). I didn't see word that there was a full collaborative release on the way, but both of these artists like to do them, so smart money says that's a yes. 

---

---

---

Watch:

New Fear Street coming at us at the end of the month. I've been meaning to rewatch the ones from a few years ago, so now's a perfect chance. 

Fear Street: Prom Queen drops on May 23rd on Netflix.

I know there's a contingent of Horror fans who disliked the original Fear Street, primarily, I think, because they're based on teenagers' books. I get it; the whole "Goosebumps/Fear Street" thing happened after I was a kid. When I was an adolescent, my many trips to the Worth Library yielded books that would now be listed in Grady Hendrix and Will Errikson's Paperbacks From Hell. I've never read any of the R.L. Stine or Christopher Pike books, so I can only take the movies as separate entities. In doing so, I don't know, I really enjoyed them. Also, I thought the "1978" installment was pretty damn brutal for a Netflix movie. Both Pike's work and Stine's recent Horror Anthology, The Stuff of Nightmares, reflect two creators who are well aware the folks who read their stuff as kids have grown up and require something more adult. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Ghost - Impera

Ghost - Skeletä

Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

The Bronx - The Bronx (II)

John Carpenter - Lost Themes

John Carpenter - Lost Themes II

Ghost - Infestissumam

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere

---

---

---

Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Page of Swords

• Queen of Pentacles

• Page of Wands

Fear can be grounded, tethered, and can be used as an "Earthly" tool. 

Sounds like a Horror writer to me. 

Mammoth - The End

The song is a bit polished for my taste, but this video put a great big smile on my face. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, with Effects by Greg Nicotero, this is a damn good time. 

You can visit Mammoth's site HERE for merch and tour details.

---

---

---

Watch:

I am a HUGE fan of the Flesh and Blood season of the Horror anthology series Slasher. I tried the follow-up season and couldn't make it very far, and although I recently realized the original seasons are still on Netflix, I've yet to find the time to go back and finish the first Season - which I liked when it first hit streaming - and give two and three a chance. 

Despite this herky-jerky relationship with Slasher, Flesh and Blood made enough of an impression that when I saw Bloody Disgusting post about this new upcoming anthology series by the same creators, I was intrigued. After watching the trailer, I am in!

Hell Motel starts up on Shudder June, 17th. If I remember correctly, Slasher's new episodes drop weekly, not altogether, so if that carries over to this, that's something to look forward to for sure!

---

---

---

Playlist:

Ghost - Skeletá 

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Deadguy - Work Ethic EP

Various - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jehu

The Bronx - The Bronx (I)

Alcohol Funnycar - Time to Make the Donuts

---

---

---