For more than 20 years, the Rev. Horton Heat has traversed the globe like a circuit-riding preacher to spread the rockabilly gospel.
“Rockabilly has always been the ‘kicking dog’ of musical forms,” said Heat by phone from a tour stop in Buffalo, N.Y. “When we started out, there were very few bands doing rockabilly. Now there are little scenes everywhere.”
Heat is best known for trafficking in psychobilly, a punk-infused subgenre that is equal parts Elvis and AC/DC. Yet a close listen to his catalog also reveals a deft hand at blues, country and Western swing.
Anchored by a tight rhythm section and his own incendiary guitar playing, Heat’s shows are frenetic affairs. The band used to perform a staggering 275 dates a year, a pace that has been whittled down to a still-hefty 120. Heat will hit Atlanta’s Masquerade on June 4.
Heat’s guitar prowess is eclipsed only by his songwriting, which is rife with shout-outs to alcohol, illicit substances and his native Texas.
The wry wordplay is in high gear on “Laughin’ & Cryin’,” the band’s first studio release in five years. The mellower, country-flavored recording finds Heat tackling such topics as family relations (“Please Don’t Take the Baby to the Liquor Store”) and horticulture (“Ain’t No Saguaro in Texas”). His Tex-Mex reworking of Ernest Tubb’s “There’s a Little Bit of Everything in Texas” should be drifting out of every welcome center in the Lone Star State.
Q: When did rockabilly first grab you?
A: It was all around me growing up. When the movie “American Graffiti” came out, I thought the '50s were the coolest thing ever! I sensed a resurgence.
Q: So many songs about Texas. What is it that inspires such reverence?
A: It’s just so big and isolated. There isn’t much to do except play football or the guitar. It’s like a country. All the schools teach Texas history.
Q: Touring seems to be your lifeblood.
A: For me, being a musician means playing gigs. Being a recording artist is not really an art form to me. The recordings are really advertisements for the shows. To me, the venues are hallowed ground.
Q: Your lyrics describe a very hedonistic lifestyle. How do you take care of yourselves?
A: Steroids! [laughs] No, we had always been a hard-partying band but we made a conscious decision to slow down. We realized that parties are not why we’re here [on tour]. That whole rock star thing is very phony and pathetic and we didn’t want to be like that. Those tickets are expensive; we wanted to be better as a band.
Q: What’s the craziest thing that’s happened to you onstage?
A: People used to throw things. One time, a shot glass whizzed between our heads. Jimbo [upright bass] went to the mike and said, ‘If you’re gonna throw things, at least throw something soft.’ Just then, a little plush bunny landed on the stage.
Concert preview
The Rev. Horton Heat
7 p.m. June 4, $23 advance, $26 door. Masquerade, 695 North Avenue, Atlanta. 404-577-8178, www.masq.com
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