By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 20, 1996
Reverend Horton Heat is one of the best bands you’ll hardly ever hear on the radio or see on MTV. And that’s just fine with the Texas trio, which falls somewhere between the retro rockabilly sound and the frenetic psychobilly craze.
“Our fans like it that we’re kind of obscure,” said guitarist-vocalist Jim “Reverend” Horton Heath, who isn’t really a minister. “We’re in kind of a frustrating but good position. We hardly get any airplay at all, but we do pretty well. Some people think it’s unbelievable that we’re selling out two nights at the Hollywood Palace, but we’re only getting played on a talk-radio format.”
The Reverend Horton Heat will preach the gospel of music at a show tonight at the Park West.
“We’re from Dallas, and our first trip getting out on the road was to Chicago at Lounge Ax,” Heath said. “We went to Chicago and Milwaukee, and that’s where a lot of our fan base is. So we’re bigger in the Midwest than we are anywhere else.”
One of the reasons the band gets such little radio play is because the Reverend Horton Heat is a difficult group to categorize. With their ’50s hairstyles and goofy clothes, Heath, bassist Jimbo Wallace and drummer Scott Churilla look as if they could’ve been plucked from one of those ’80s cow-punk groups (Rank & File, Jason and the Nashville Scorchers). Then you hear them perform their music – a high-octane blend of rock, country and even a bit of Latin music – and the one word that pops up over and over again is manic.
Their current album, “It’s Martini Time,” is crammed with songs that are hummable and, if you are a particularly energetic person, danceable. “Martini” is loads of fun to listen to and also is remarkable for not being produced by a rock star: Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes produced “The Full Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat.” And it was Ministry’s Al Jourgensen who manned their major-label debut, “Liquor in the Front.”
“Al was fun to work with,” Heat said, phoning from his Los Angeles hotel. “But that was our last record. (`It’s Martini Time’) is a little bit more our thing in some ways. One thing that Gibby and Al had us do on our CDs was to record the same guitar part twice to get a really full sound. But at the same time, it didn’t really fit the guitar sound because it made it sound like a chorus effect.”
This time around, Heath went for a simpler, more natural sound.
“We just got one guitar part and made it sound as big as possible by adding an instrument here and there,” he continued, munching on some breakfast. “Like we’d throw in a steel guitar on a couple songs, maybe a horn section on another and we got a piano player to work on another song. So it was kind of fun. We had extra people play with us, but it was also stripped down enough for us ’cause we’re not doing that huge super-guitar thing.”
Being able to make albums the way he wants to was one reason the Rev was a little apprehensive about leaving the indie Sup Pop label. But for the most part, he said, he enjoys recording for Interscope, which also has Bush and Brian Setzer.
“It’s nice that they have some money to spend on us,” he said. “But I’d say the hardest thing about being on a major label is that they have a lot of suggestions for us. That gets to be a little difficult at times, but I understand, too, that this is a highly competitive business and the whole idea of being in a band is kind of sketchy, anyway.”
Laughing, he added, “But they usually just get sick of us and let us do whatever we want.”
Though often portrayed as hard-drinking partiers, Heath seemed to be mellowing out a little. Asked about his adventures, he sheepishly said, “We like to drink. Last summer, I had to quit drinking a little bit ’cause I got in all sorts of trouble. When I get drunk and I pass out, I don’t just lay there unconscious – I go running. I’m a running drunk.”
Come again?
“I’ve run face first into some bushes where they could’ve put my eye out,” he remembered. . . . It’s pretty dangerous. One night we were playing an outdoor arena place out in the country and I got lost in the woods. They had a whole team looking out for me. The promoter’s wife finally found me. I’ve got to learn to handle it better.”
Or write a song about it.
