Fourteen years of anonymity ground to a halt when -- thanks to their first and only hit single, "Pepper"-- the Butthole Surfers' 1996 album, Electriclarryland, unexpectedly struck a chord with more than 600,000 mass consumers. Now, the hooch has dried up and the hangover has kicked in as Austin's most sardonic trio struggles to break the zero-sales mark with After the Astronaut.

Still reeling from their Johnny-come-lately success, the Surfers scurried into the studio with high hopes and fatter wallets in 1997. When they emerged, the czars of satire presented Capitol Records with what guitarist Paul Leary calls their "grand masterpiece." "This record is our most pride-worthy effort, and our most cohesive album to date," says the easy-going Texan. "I personally think it's a triumph."

And who's to argue with him? Leary, along with bandmates Gibby Haynes and King Coffey, are three of the only living humans who have ever heard After the Astronaut.

That conspicuous silence can be attributed to a savage dispute between the band's management and label that erupted shortly before the album's scheduled release date last April. Now the buzz-kill manager is gone, the grudge is forgotten and the Surfers' eleventh studio effort is decaying, but the stalemate with Capitol Records remains.

"I don't blame Capitol for being mad at us because we have been dicks to them a bit," says Leary, who recently took a year off to gain new perspective on the music industry. "I just want to do what we do without letting distractions pollute or diminish our music."

Despite dead-end negotiations with respect to After the Astronaut, this millennium may not end tragically for the Surfers, who are conspiring now to launch their own record label. Leary says there is only a fifty-percent chance that his rowdy bunch will break free from Capitol, however the band has already cleared the way to re-release its entire back catalog elsewhere.

After emerging victorious from a legal battle with Touch & Go Records last year, the Surfers gained ownership and control of their earliest recordings -- some of which were not commercially available for more than a decade. Now, the slighted rock band wants a little revenge and a lot of revenue; they're just not sure exactly how to get it.

"The only thing I know how to do is be a Butthole Surfer," says Leary, downplaying his role in producing top-selling albums for Sublime, Supersuckers, Meat Puppets and Stone Temple Pilots.

And with that, the Surfers are returning to what they know best: the studio. Next month, Leary, Haynes and Coffey will begin work on a fresh batch of tracks at Willie Nelson's Texas studio, where they hope to polish off four songs in four weeks. The new material will likely revisit the Surfers' early eccentricity and ditch the commercial magnetism of their hit single, "Pepper," which Leary calls a "totally unpleasant experience." A release date remains hypothetical at this time, but Leary says the band hopes to tour during the summer months -- one way or another.

"You haven't heard the last from the Butthole Surfers," Leary says with conviction. "We may not be popular and no one may want to hear us, but, dammit we'll be making records again soon."

ANNI LAYNE
(January 20, 1999)