Butthole Surfers Announce Official Release Of After The Astronaut For June 2026 Release, Share Lead Single “Jet Fighter”

Back in 1998, when BUTTHOLE SURFERS followed up their 1996 mainstream breakthrough Electric Larryland with their next record entitled AFTER THE ASTRONAUT, the major label they were signed to at the time pulled it from their release schedule at the last minute. Their reasoning? They wanted a more “commercial” record. Instead, After the Astronaut was shelved… until now, when Sunset Blvd. releases that mythic and much-discussed follow-up on June 26, 2026.

“We were pretty stoked to make another album after the success of our previous album and its single ‘Pepper’,” recalls guitarist Paul Leary. “Capitol Records was stoked to get that next record until our relationship soured.” After some legal wrangling, Butthole Surfers were released from the major label’s roster and their contract was sold. “Hollywood Records bought the album but wanted to make changes to it which was an uncomfortable experience for us,” he notes (the reconfigured and reworked album was eventually released as Weird Revolution in 2001). “Now we have the right to release the original recording the way we intended it to be with its original title, After The Astronaut.”

In light of the album announcement, the band has shared the first single, “Jet Fighter”, finds them in a surf-punk mood, exploring lo-fi dadaist psych rock filtered through a thrift store PA system, which originated, as Leary remembers, “when I purchased a 12-string electric guitar and wanted to play it.” It’s the unnatural progression of the anti-mainstream pop song that fit perfectly in the oddball late ‘90s aesthetic. An anti-war protest song that, while originally written decades ago, echoes a sentiment that can be applied today, Gibby sings about Mikey who enlisted in the military and “He got into the cockpit and rose up in the sky / Set his sights on Beirut and he let his missiles fly / Boom, Boom!”

AFTER THE ASTRONAUT Track List

1. Weird Revolution
2. Intelligent Guy
3. Jet Fighter
4. Mexico
5.  Imbuya
6. Venus
7. The Last Astronaut
8.  Yentel
9.  Junkie Jenny in Gaytown
10. They Came In
11.  I Don’t Have a Problem
12. Turkey and Dressing