Get out of the kitchen

>> Or bask in the hellbilly of Reverend Horton Heat

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

Between albums, between labels and still on that never-ending tour circuit, the Reverend Horton Heat just wants to spread the word--as loud as he possibly can. His latest album, Spend a Night in the Box (referring to his lady's favourite form of punishment), is a return to the heavy psychobilly raunch of old after '98's slick Space Heater. So, with a Bible, a gun and a Bettie Page wig (just to get in the spirit) the Mirror chatted with the Reverend about ZZ Top fans, Willie Nelson clones and the perils of home décor.



Mirror: So you've played the Warped Tour and supported a whole slew of bands over the years. How do you deal with virgin crowds?

Reverend Horton Heat: We played to so many different audiences, we can adjust our set list a little bit and go open for White Zombie or go play a bar mitzvah. One summer we went out with ZZ Top, so we had to win over their old biker crowd. It was pretty funny. Imagine a biker guy with his wife, he paid $50 a ticket, he's had a few too many beers and he likes to yell at the opening band. On several of those shows somebody would go, "Fuck you!" and I'd have to say, "No, fuck you man, come on up here!" and if I did that, then all of a sudden they'd like me.

M: Ah, Texas. But what was it like recording your last album out at Willie Nelson's studio?

RHH: Oh, that was great, that part of Texas is hill country, it's all rock and cactus and crazy, surreal-looking trees. It's kinda rough, but it's very beautiful. Yeah, Willie came in and had a barbecue with us one night, it was real laid-back. That's a funny part of Texas too 'cuz Willie lives up there and a lot of the people who own the houses are retired Willie roadies and family members and what have you, and everybody in that whole area, when you go down to the little bar, they've all got long hair with braids and they're wearing shorts and flip-flops and Willie Nelson T-shirts. It's like he's the king of that area of Texas, it's pretty cool.

M: I bet you get followers sporting that ultra-'50s look you love. Is that aesthetic a big part of your life?

RHH: Well, I'm not the rockabilly nazi I could have been accused of being, but I have a ton of vintage clothes and my house was made in 1927, it's really cool-lookin', and all of our furniture is mid-century American, either art deco or atomic. But we're not real extravagant about it, that's just the stuff we like. I like my stuff. I have a lot of great friends who are really into the collecting things and one of the problems with those people is they want to make their house look cool but they're such collectors that they have all this junk everywhere. I kinda subscribe to the theory that what you own actually owns you. It might be cool to own three Hot Rods, but where do you park 'em?

With Bare Jr. at Foufounes, Wednesday August 1, 8pm, $20