MAY 2013 BUDDY 9

Most definitely.Texas-born Jim Heath may

not be a household name, but hislegendary band The ReverendHorton Heat has probably beenheard in most households inAmerica. He’s worked hard, andfrom that has had both artisticand commercial success. It’s notjust the countless stage shows,over a million albums sold, nu-merous appearances on multi-artist compilations, videos andtwo concert DVDs. Commer-cially, The Reverend HortonHeat’s music has been featuredin movies, TV, and video games.Heath has had movie and TVappearances as well.

The end of 2012 marked thebeginning of a new era for thealmost 30-year-old band. Theysigned a three record deal withChicago-based Victory Records,the #1 independent rock recordlabel in the country. “We arevery excited to be a Victory bandnow. Since we are going to getback to doing some edgier stuff,it makes perfect sense to be onVictory. Plus, they are as pas-sionate as we are.”

The Reverend Horton Heatcurrently features Heath on vo-cals and guitar, along with long-time bandmate Jimbo Wallaceon the upright bass, and ScottChurilla on drums. Joining witha label that had an appreciationfor their style and originality willlikely be a perfect match. Ac-cording to Victory founder Tony

Brummel, “Signing a veteran art-ist of The Reverend Horton Heat’scaliber and reputation coupledwith the fact that they are one ofthe hardest touring rock artists,year after year, was a very excit-ing way for us to end 2012. Alarge number of us here havebeen fans for many years. Wevery much look forward to work-ing with the band and itslongstanding team.”

New CDAMIDST THE INCREDIBLYbusy touring schedule, Heath andcrew have already begun work-ing on the first, currently un-titled, CD of the new deal. “We’rein pre-production, and alreadyhave a couple songs recorded,”Heath said.”“We’re in that phaseof trying to figure out how it willbe. It should be easy goin’. Vic-tory is a harder edged label witha little harder edged stuff. OurCD

Laughin’ and Cryin’ with theReverend Horton Heat was almostcountry. This one is gonna bedifferent.” Heath is very pleasedto be signed with a label willingto let the band do their music theway they want to get back todoing it. “Stay tuned for somecrazy ideas about our new al-bum.”

In their earlier days, the banddid a lot of hard partying. “Then,everywhere we went, there was agroup of three, five, or maybeten people waiting for us to ar-

rive and party hard before theshow even started. It was fun forthose people, for us, it was work.”The same pattern day after daybegan to have an effect on themand they felt, the quality of theirshows.

“I remember me and Jimbo(Wallace) decided to play for all,instead of a few. We had beendoing a disservice because of ourparty obligation. We made a dealthat we wouldn’t drink before ashow. Not even beer. It was a bigdecision.” A few fans were surelydisappointed, but the longevityof The Reverend Horton Heatleads one to believe they madethe right decision.

After all these years, Heath isstill a very down to earth man.He loves what he does, takespride in doing it right, and wishesothers in music would do thesame. “The most annoying peopleare rock stars who ‘live the life.’They learn the notes that make

D9 and just make some music.Writers do that, too. They arejust people and writers, not a‘real rock star.’ That’s just hypinga person, who might not be thattalented.”

To make real music, there aretwo important factors, accord-ing to Heath. “You gotta work atit and have fun. Definitely havefun.” Heath says even with theregular gigs, that there’s alwaysroom for practice and hard work.“I am ALWAYS working on stuff.”He must be onto something. Hislongevity in the music industryand still growing fan base spansnot only the U.S. but many othercountries as well. Heath saysthey are never “off” tour and hisentire career is based on touring.From Thanksgiving 2012through February, the band onlyhad three weekends off. “A good,successful band stays challenged.Part of that is being booked intooblivion!” After playing the Wild-

HOW IS LIFE GOING FOR THE REVERENDHHorton Heat? “It’s amazing. I mean, I get toHsing songs about the cars I love, drinkingand chasing girls. Beats the hell out of the alterna-tive.”

“Me and the guys have a strongwork ethic from way back.That being said, there are lotsof factors. It’s what we love todo. It’s our art form, whetherhanging around a studio orplaying a gig. And, musicneeds to have a crowd, becauseit gives the music a heartbeat.”

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—JIM HEATH

He was named a Buddy Texas Tornado Guitarist in 1986: Jim Heath

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BUDDYTHE ORIGINAL TEXAS MUSIC MAGAZINE

MAY 2013VOLUME XXXX, NUMBER 11

The Reverend Horton Heat“custom culture rockabilly” experience

After “Laughin’ and Cryin’’ the new Reverend Horton Heat CD on Victory Records will bring a harder edge.By Dana Jones, Photos by Chuck Flores

flower Festival in Richardson onMay 18, he’ll be headed to Aus-tralia for a couple of weeks, thenit’s back to a heavy U.S.tourschedule.’

The experienceTHE EXPERIENCE THAT IS AReverend Horton Heat show be-gins in the venue’s parking lot.It’s inevitable there will be atleast a few really cool classic cars,with passersby gazing, pointingand discussing their merits. Theexperience continues indoors,where pin-up girls wearing brightred lipstick, beauty marks, mas-cara, fake lashes, classic hairdos,retro clothing and high heels lookas though they’ve crawled off thetattooed arms of men from a pastera. The fans range in age fromthose who are not even oldenough to drink, to those whoare in their golden years andhave probably been followingthe band for decades.

They’re allmixed in a pot-luck of an audi-ence, and as theR e v e r e n dHorton Heattakes the stage,they suddenlybecome onegroup of de-voted, singingalong, dancing,t oe - t app ing ,kindred spirits.It’ll be almostc o m p l e t e l yoriginal music,and the crowdhappily expectsno less. Theyanxiously awaitand buy the al-bums and mer-chandise. Theywill sometimestravel hours forshows, and fol-low a tour forseveral dates.His devoted fol-lowers, andthere are many,are a truly di-verse congrega-tion.

When askedabout hisunique fan base,he describes hismusic as “cus-tom culturer o c k a b i l l y ”where lots ofgroups of

people feel comfortable. He’sright. And while his music isoften described as psychobilly, itranges from a mixture ofrockabilly, country, swing, bigband, punk, surf, rock and blues,sometimes with humorous lyr-ics, sometimes more serious.Fans will hear their favorites,new fans will say they didn’trealize it was a Horton Heat song,and everyone will leave havinghad a great time enjoying qualitymusic, which is what Heath trulystrives to do for his fans.

Heath says he and his bandare successful for several rea-sons.

“Me and the guys have astrong work ethic from way back.That being said, there are lots offactors. It’s what we love to do.It’s our art form, whether hang-ing around a studio or playing agig. And,” Heath adds, “musicneeds to have a crowd, because itgives the music a heartbeat.” ■