The Reverend Horton Heat is straight up, no nonsense rock 'n' roll. That's the bottom line.
For more than two decades, the rockabilly star has been able to alter his sound and adapt to mainstream pop music. Heat can play hard rock, metal, pop, and country. He has performed with bands like Nine Inch Nails, White Zombie, Soundgarden, Marilyn Manson, and Johnny Cash. On Oct. 27, Heat will play with special guest Speed Crazy at Maxwell's Bar, Restaurant and Nightclub at 1039 Washington St. in Hoboken. The show starts at 9 p.m. and tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.
The Maxwell's show will be the second time Heat (real name Jim Heath) plays in Hoboken. In the late '90s, he played a late-night show with his band.
"We always get a good response from folks in Hoboken. They're good people who appreciate good music," Heat said during a recent phone interview.
Heat is touring the country in support of his new album Lucky 7, released on Artemis Records. The 14-track compilation is a hard-hitting rock album that captures Heat's style of music.
"The product is excellent. We hit the studio for two weeks, and came out with tunes we are proud of," he said. "This is the most energetic batch of songs we've had since our last record. We felt it was time to get back to chainsaw distortion."
Produced, recorded and mixed by Ed Stasium, the album features the singles "Like a rocket," "Reverend Horton Heat's Big Blue Car," and "Galaxy 500." The album also includes party tunes like "Loco Gringos Like A Party," and "You've got a friend in Jimbo."
In the late '80s, Heat and his band set many Texas roadhouses in flame with their hellacious, unholy marriage of rockers Dick Dale, Carl Perkins, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and the Cramps. Talent scouts across the nation took notice of the band's country-stained punkabilly. In the mid-90s, Heat released The Full-Custom Gospel Sounds of the Reverend Horton Heat, which introduced the band to a nationwide audience of gutterpunks, skate kids, metal heads, rockabilly lovers, guitar geeks, and recovering Guns 'n' Roses fans. The band's cult following reached epic proportions in the underground scene, and eventually the band reached the top of the Indie-charts.
Throughout the late '90s, the band hit the big leagues signing with Interscope Records. Their ensuing debut for the major label - a joint release with Sub Pop Records was Liquor In The Front, which captured the zeitgeist of the increasingly bulging rockabilly/swing nation. The title track of Heat's follow up effort, It's Martini Time, became a minor hit single, and one reviewer likened the band's bone-jolting live show to "putting on a stainless steel suit and running full bore into an electric fence."
In 1998 the band released their final Interscope record, Space Heater. The retrospective effort captured many of the band's finest recorded moments from their early days.
Heat got the name "Reverend" at his first show ever in Texas. The club promoter put his name down at the Reverend Horton Heat, and since then, the name stuck.
"When I saw the flyers with another name, I thought it sucked. But then I got used to it," Heat said.
"I think it's cool we've lasted this long. People still come out to see us play after all these years and all the shows and tours. It's amazing, I'm excited as hell to get out and bring these new songs to life onstage," Heat said.
For more information on the Oct. 27 show at Maxwell's, call (201) 653-1703 or visit www.maxwellsnj.com. For more information on Heat, call (212) 414-1700 or visit www.reverendhortonheat.com. After Hoboken, Heat will play at Providence, R.I. on Oct. 30. q
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