Ep509: Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers
The Vinyl Guide - Artist Interviews for Record Collectors and Music Nerds
Nate Goyer
4.7 • 579 Ratings
🗓️ 28 July 2025
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gibby Haynes discusses his upcoming EU/UK tour, the completed Butthole Surfers documentary, early punk memories, near-death stage experiences, vinyl reissues and lots more.
Topics Include:
- Gibby discusses upcoming European & UK tour with Scott Thunes and musical kids
- Tour dates are limited, zero chance of expansion beyond Europe/UK
- Scott Thunes was Frank Zappa's former bassist and "clone meister"
- Gibby confirms he's a Frank Zappa fan, particularly loved "Apostrophe" album
- Lost interest in Zappa after "Apostrophe" due to scatological humor focus
- Initial confusion about Scott Thunes - Gibby doesn't know who he is
- Clarifies he works with Paul Green's School of Rock for 20 years
- Scott Thunes may be coming on tour, is friend of Paul Green
- Gibby has no direct connection to Scott Thunes, only knows Paul Green
- Sometimes tours individually with kids, different kids each time
- Butthole Surfers once toured Europe with School of Rock as opener
- Kids' performance quality varies - sometimes really good, sometimes not
- Gibby lost entire record collection when engineer sold it during tour
- Collection was 3-4 feet of curated vinyl, mostly punk and hardcore
- Had valuable Buzzcocks singles collection among other rare records
- Met record dealer in San Antonio mall who introduced great albums
- Dealer showed him Devo's first album when it came out
- Key collection moment was hitchhiking trip to LA in summer 1979
- Saw early LA punk shows including Go-Gos opening for Fear
- LA was only US city where audience spit at bands
- Witnessed massive amounts of phlegm on Belinda Carlisle during show
- John Belushi was standing next to him at the Go-Gos show
- Almost saw the Dickies' "last show" but it was cancelled
- Dickies are apparently still performing, contrary to expectations
- Gibby wrote memoir "Me and Mr. Cigar," wants to do sequel
- Criticizes most musician memoirs as ghostwritten, prefers authentic voices
- Cites Bob Dylan and Patti Smith as examples of self-written memoirs
- Discusses looking at legacy, mentions end being closer than beginning
- Still painting but doesn't do regular gallery shows or solo exhibitions
- Questions whether rockers are musicians or entertainers, favors entertainment label
- Believes rockers make better actors than actors make musicians
- Cites Childish Gambino and Lady Gaga as successful crossover examples
- Mentions Russell Crowe's band "50 Odd Foot of Grunts" dismissively
- Did artwork for several album covers including "P" and other releases
- Sold all artwork at LA gallery show while Sonic Youth members sold none
- David Yow pointed out his success, making him particularly happy
- Maintains friendships with successful musicians like Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Gets VIP access to major shows, brings 15-year-old son along
- Son says he loves Gibby but frequency might be concerning
- Kids don't appreciate backstage access until they can drink alcohol
- Mentions Dwarves show where son enjoyed the beer more than music
- Discusses Eagles of Death Metal and Queens of Stone Age name quality
- David Crosby once asked why they chose "Butthole Surfers" as name
- Responded that "Haynes, Walthall, Pincus and Coffey were already taken"
- Band appeared on Beavis and Butthead with respectful introduction
- Used different band names for every show, including outrageous ones
- Paul Leary nearly died from electrical shock at CBGB performance
- Sound engineer failed to warn about dangerous electrical outlet
- Butthole Surfers documentary "The Hole Truth" is completed, seeking distribution
- Twenty percent of documentary viewers cry during screenings, usually same moment
- Band controls all their catalog rights across different labels
- Potential vinyl box set in works, discusses remastering philosophy
50+ Minutes Extra-Extended and high resolution version of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide
Listen on Apple: https://apple.co/2Y6ORU0
Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/36qhlc8
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:10.0 | Here's your host, the biggest record nerd of them all, Nate Goyer. |
| 0:13.0 | Ah, well, hey everyone, it's Nate. |
| 0:15.0 | Welcome to episode 509 of the Vinyl Guide, the podcast for record collectors and music nerds. |
| 0:22.6 | And today, dear people, we are featuring Butthole Surfer's Frontman and Lightning Rod, Mr. Gibby Haynes. |
| 0:31.2 | And those of you familiar with the band and Ghibi recognize that he can be very unpredictable and very exciting, very funny, |
| 0:41.1 | and this conversation will no doubt reflect those assumptions. |
| 0:45.5 | We do speak about the records. |
| 0:47.4 | Apparently, there's a Butthole Surfer's box set in the works, as well as the Whole Truth |
| 0:52.1 | documentary, which we hope to see this year. We talk about |
| 0:55.4 | those. We talk about near-death experiences on stage. We talk about the band in popular |
| 1:01.8 | culture, like The Simpsons and Beavis and Butthead. We even discuss the early punk shows |
| 1:06.6 | and Gibby's upcoming tour of Europe and the UK. |
| 1:12.7 | This is throughout the month of August. |
| 1:21.1 | Gibby will be in Helsinki, Estonia, Prague, Berlin, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, Birmingham, and Dublin. |
| 1:27.0 | Tickets and info are at ToneDefturing.com slash gibby. Got your pens out here. Write this down again. Tone deaf touring.com slash gibby. |
| 1:28.9 | Got your pens out here. |
| 1:29.9 | Write this down again. |
| 1:33.5 | Tone deaf touring.com slash gibby. |
| 1:37.4 | Any European or UK listeners, head over there and grab your tickets. |
| 1:39.2 | I'll put the link in this episode page as well. |
| 1:48.5 | Also to note, there is another hour of Gibby and I completely talking shit, and that's available on our Patreon page. |
... |
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