What What-ers?

Related Content

• Mike Patton and Secret Chiefs 3 Deliver a Rousing Take on Scott Walker's "Jacky"
  January 31, 2012
• Mike Patton's New Weird Project Is an Album Inspired By The Solitude of Prime Numbers
  September 13, 2011
• Tune-Yards, Citay, Among DIY Artists Who Celebrate Our Band Could Be Your Life Anniversary: Listen
  May 23, 2011
• How To Get The Band To Play What You Want
  May 25, 2011
• Secret Chiefs 3: Show Preview
  February 1, 2012

More About

• Butthole Surfers
• Mike Patton
• Lee Ranaldo
• The Melvins
• Sonic Youth

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

From the damaged grind of 1987’s classic album Locust Abortion Technician to 1996’s Beck-like fluke single “Pepper,” Butthole Surfers have veered from snotty underdogs to accidental hitmakers and back again. In fact, despite a brush here and there with the mainstream, the band remains one of rock’s most definitive cult acts. Now that the Surfers have regained rights to and reissued their first four albums, their subsequent touring has an added sense of D.I.Y. willfulness. It’s also something of a history lesson: For all the band's silliness, its wrestling and pinning of various genres on the way to exploring music’s fringes remains exciting and satisfying. Also survivors of the pre-grunge underground, albeit with a reconfigured lineup, the Melvins continue to release new albums and tour with dogged sureness. Long signed to Mike Patton’s Ipecac imprint, the burly outfit has won strong reviews for its recent albums (A) Senile Animal and Nude with Boots. An unlikely remix album even appeared this year, featuring Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo and a range of more obscure names. Completing this touring lineup is Psychic Ills, an opaque New York quartet with two acclaimed records on the Social Registry. Outsiders of the world, unite!
Fri., Oct. 16, 9 p.m., 2009