Butthole Surfers guitarist Paul Leary recently announced a new solo album called Born Stupid that will be released on Kramer’s rebooted SHIMMY-DISC label and Joyful Noise on February 12. The first few singles have shown the alternative icon just as much of an idiosyncratic, inventive and bizarre songwriter as ever. Today we’re premiering the album’s latest single and its creative video created by Mike Maryniuk for “Gary Floyd Revisited.”
“Gary Floyd Revisited” is a simple but unsettling ballad that mostly features nothing more than Leary’s voice and an acoustic guitar with occasional backing instrumentals that give added nuance to the track. The simplicity of the song is matched by its video, which features hand-puppets pantomiming and “lip-syncing” the lyrics of the songs. Gary Floyd was the lead singer of punk band The Dicks, and as one of the first openly-gay punk musicians in the ’80s, is considered an icon and pioneer in the LBGTQ community.
“My friend Mike Maryniuk was kind enough to make this video for me,” said Leary. “It lends unsettling imagery to an unsettling song.”
“Gary Floyd Revisited” follows previous singles from Born Stupid including the title track and “What Are You Gonna Do?” The latter also came along with an attention-grabbing music video, with warped, psychedelic visuals that are perfect for that envelope-pushing song.
Born Stupid is Leary’s second solo album and first in many decades, following the 1991 release of The History of Dogs. Butthole Surfers haven’t released an album since 2001, Weird Revolution though they did announce a few years ago they were working on new album. They’ve also sporadically played shows, most recent being in 2016 at Day For Night Festival in their native Texas and in 2017 at The Growlers 6.
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