Album Review: Butthole Surfers, Live at the Leather Fly

Written By Christian Cole, OOTB Publications

Flashback to 1981. In the sweltering San Antonio summer heat, a group of acid soaked youth was beginning to enter sonic territory previously unexplored. This band was the one and only Butthole Surfers.

Led by singer Gibby Haynes, guitarist Paul Leary and drummer King Coffey, the band saw a revolving door of backing musicians over the decades to come. In an era of hair bands and New Wave starting to dominate the airwaves, the Butthole Surfers were writing the antithesis.

Searing, sometimes off kilter guitar, punk leanings, synth-laced madness and the dark side of psychedelia all became staples of the Butthole Surfers’ sonic playground.

The Butthole Surfers amassed a cult-like following through the mid-80s all the way through to the late ‘90s before finding themselves with a radio single “Pepper,” coming from the band’s 1996 studio effort Electriclarryland.

Emerging from the hardcore punk scene and quickly infusing elements of both noiserock and the darkest corners of psychedelia, the Surfers found themselves a sound unlike anything else, both then and now.

Now, in 2025, we’re seeing the release of Live at the Leather Fly (Sunset Blvd), a 21-track live LP with mysterious origins. The date and venue of this unearthed gem is unknown with the title coming from the mind of frontman Gibby Haynes, who in their early years often dreamt of an imaginary venue called: “The Leather Fly.”

It’s so fitting that this show is shrouded in mystery, it is explosive from start to finish—a whirlwind of sound incomparable to anything else happening at the time.

Gibby and the band lead us through 21 tracks of sheer madness in this incredibly mysterious live effort. Live at the Leather Fly encapsulates so well what the Surfers are and always have been; whatever the f*%^ they want to be.

From tracks like “Bong Song,” a synth fueled, riffed out track featuring bong-induced coughing from Gibby Haynes, to absolutely face peeling 9-minute long jams reminiscent of your worst acid trip (see: “P.S.Y”) and everything in between and thereafter, the listener is poised to the edge of their seat.

Live at the Leather Fly is an explorative, explosive and enticing piece of madness. It’s insanity to the fourth degree, it’s in your face from start to finish. It’s relentless, massive and dark.

Longtime Butthole Surfers’ fans and newcomers alike will be treated to an incredible surprise on Friday when Live at the Leather Fly finds itself available on all streaming services.

Favorite Tracks

P.S.Y

Annoying Song

You Don’t Know Me

Rating

4.8/5

Tracklist

Graveyard

Dust Devil

Gary Floyd

1401

Alcohol