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In Detroit, their admirers included Corey Rusk of the Necros, who ran the Touch and Go label. Having the second drummer really took that concept to the next level.' He had a snare, a couple of toms, and a cymbal.

'When King first joined our band, he didn't have much in the way of a drum kit. 'It was definitely fun to behold,' says Leary. Wily and wiry, you may know Nervosa as the Madonna Pap Smear Kid from Richard Linklater's Slacker. In addition to the skeleton-smiling drummer King Coffey, the band picked up Teresa Nervosa as a second percussionist. Visual aids to the spectacle included nude dancers, strobe lights, dry ice and medical film reels worthy of the Strange V.D. Featuring most of the tunes from the self-titled EP, the live set is a train wreck in motion, with Leary's frayed guitar rocking off the rails, the rhythm section chugging forward and Haynes, on sax and megaphone, acting as the howling conductor.Д«y this time, the Butthole Surfers gained a reputation in independent music scenes across the U.S. Unfazed, the Butthole Surfers recorded a live effort, the PCPPEP EP, at The Meridian in San Antonio. Without money to buy back the tapes from the studio, the EP sat in the can. Unfortunately for Leary and Haynes, Biafra's promise to press their record was an empty one. Across the street from the merry-go-round and birthday parties, the Butthole Surfers laid down the boisterous sax solos and infernal language that would become their debut, self-titled EP. At least, 'until his wife couldn't take us anymore,' says Leary.Д«ack in San Antonio, the Butthole Surfers holed up in the now-defunct Boss Studios, across from Kiddie Park on Broadway, that odd staple of San Antonio childhood. Impressed, Biafra agreed to put out a record by the Texans on his Alternative Tentacles label and let them sleep at his house. Inside was a punk show and the band whined their way onto the bill, performing for a crowd that included Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra. 'We coasted all the way down the bridge and off on the first exit, letting the van roll as far as it would go until itВ came to a stop in front of an old building with a sign that readВ 'Tool and Die',' says Leary, describing their luck. On their first tour out to San Francisco, the van coughed its death fits at the top of the Bay Bridge. We were proud to be making underground music,В especially since we weren't really fit to do anything else.' There wasn't really any backlash, but we realized pretty soon that we would need to get out and around to make things work. 'There was an audience, at least in Austin, Houston and Dallas,' says Leary.

With The Big Boys, The Dicks, The Huns and a growing stream of others, Texas offered a small but determined punk scene in the early '80s.

The Butthole Surfers flyer for a gig at the Bonham Exchange in 1982.

'Forming a band became sort of the next logical step,' says Leary, 'so we could make stupid album covers and stuff.' With a rotating cast of characters, the Surfers duck-dove into the Texas underground. It was a horrible magazine.'ДЄfter an abbreviated move to LA to sell Lee Harvey Oswald T-shirts, the pair returned to SA to found the Butthole Surfers. 'It also had drawings and other really dumb stuff.

'It featured old photos of venereal and tropical diseases, which we gave stupid names like 'taco leg' and 'black bag',' says Leary. Haynes was an anachronism, down for the punk scene, but also an honors economics student and captain of the D-III hoops team.Д«efore ever making music, the duo put out a zine called Strange V.D. As an art student, Leary was inspired by the works of pioneering performance artist Yves Klein, whose emphasis on the body would be seen in future Butthole sets. We were good at developing each other's ideas.'ДЄs undergrads at Trinity University, Haynes and Leary began their long creative journey. We thought alike, in a twisted kind of way.

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'I don't really know how to describe it, except that we were just having as much fun as we could. 'Back in the old days, we collaborated together on everything,' says Leary via email. The eccentric music of PPAMS is the result of two minds, Paul Leary and Gibby Haynes, collaborating on a wavelength few others can tune to. The ramblings of Captain Beefheart, the grooves of Can and the stripped punk of the Sex Pistols come to mind, but the weird collages of the Surfers suggest they evolved alone, like the platypus or El Camino. The trenchant sounds on PPAMS don't have many direct ancestors.

Butt hole surfers