Revvin’ It Up

For nearly 30 years, Jim Heath and his trio, better known as The Reverend Horton Heat, have been spreading their distinctive brand of high octane, punkabilly rock and roll all over the world.  The band has built a solid reputation for itself, delivering powerful, explosive sets that feature some of the most stellar, old rock and roll musicianship one could hope to see. They were signed to Sub Pop Records during the label’s early ‘90s golden era which saw the band sharing the label with everyone from The Dwarves and L7 to Mudhoney and Nirvana.  In 1996 the band made the transition to a major label, signing with industry giants Interscope Records and releasing a pair of their most successful records at that point.  As the ‘90s became the ‘00s, The Rev jumped off the major label ship to the comfort of independent labels once more, enjoying a lucrative run at Yep Roc before recently signing with hugely successful, Victory Records, to release their most recent record, simply titled, Rev. Throughout it all the band’s odes to fast cars, even faster women, and illicit drug use, perhaps best represented to their instrumental surf rock ode to a beloved, smokable plant, “marijuana” have kept The Reverend Horton Heat fans satiated and begging for more.

Did you guys have any specific goals for Rev, going into the writing and recording process?

Rev: Yeah!  That last one leaned country very heavily.  So we decided we should be getting back to more of the edgier stuff that we’re known for.  You know, early Reverend Horton Heat, we were basically a straight, authentic rockabilly band except that we were doing my own songs.  Then we started getting a little bit more turned up and a little bit more aggressive, so that really came through on our second and third albums; that more aggressive, edgier thing.  This doesn’t necessarily hearken back to the beginning of Reverend Horton Heat or early on, but more toward the aggressive mid-‘90s years.

Obviously, you’ve been doing this for a long time. Where do you draw your inspiration from these days when you’re sitting down and writing songs?

Rev: This album has a little more darker stuff.  I’ve got a song about how being on the road, you know, you go everywhere, but you never have time to see anything, that’s a little bit of a darker concept than a lot of other Reverend Horton Heat songs.  But then I’ve got a couple things that get a little bit darker than other Reverend Horton Heat stuff that we’re normally like, maybe even a little bit political, but I never like to get too political.

Are there any other plans for the band in the next year or is it mainly just hitting the road to promote Rev?

Rev: Well, we’re on the road all the time, regardless of any album release, so for us, it’s really no different.  We play live gigs man, so it’s just that we have a new album out now.  So that being said, the main thing that’s happening that’s cool this year is that we’re getting a lot of festivals. I’ve even got my own festival coming up, it’s gonna be the second one, it’s called The Elm St. Music and Tattoo Festival. It’s gonna be in June, and it’s gonna be cool!

“MARIJUANA”

Though The Reverend Horton Heat have had an array of successes over the years, and fans of the band could all probably somewhat reach consensus on what their “greatest hits” might be, one song that the entirety of his audience can agree on as a particular stand out would be the heater, “Marijuana,” off of the band’s 1990 Sup Pop Records debut, Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em.  The tune, a surf themed instrumental seemingly fueled by the type of weed that ‘50s scare films warned us about, is one of the most scorching numbers in the band’s repertoire.  The song commands such feverish intensity; it can easily bring to mind some of the highest highs elicited by the plant the song takes its name after.