Frenetic electric guitar, acid tabs and singer Gibby Haynes stripping in a dress with clothespins clipped to his face and nipples. Broken whiskey bottles. Lighter fluid ignites flames on the cymbals. Gnarly graphic penis reconstruction surgery visuals as a backdrop. Kathleen Lynch, head shaved, dancing naked in the center of it all.
You know, just a typical Butthole Surfers concert.
On Wednesday at the Paramount Theatre, director Tom Stern premiered “Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt” at South by Southwest. The documentary traces the band’s core members’ chaotic, LSD and beer-fueled rise to stardom. The documentary features interviews with industry names such as Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dave Grohl. Blending archival footage, puppetry and animated reenactments, the film is a wild, punchy, irreverent ride — captivating from start to finish and packed with pure mayhem.
The Butthole Surfers embodied rock and roll’s authentic spirit — living on the road in a cramped 1980s camper van with no money for food but always enough for beer and marijuana. They survived by sneaking into vacated hotel rooms to shower before maids arrived and scavenging unfinished meals from restaurant tables. Their reckless, free-spirited lifestyle made them underground legends, influencing fans like Kurt Cobain.
The film opens with shots of Butthole Surfers guitarist Paul Leary in the present day, biking through sunny suburbs with a helmet tightly strapped to his head. He claims it’s the most normal his life has ever been, prompting laughter from the audience. Leary narrates a scene where puppets portray him and Haynes at Trinity College in San Antonio, smoking marijuana and bonding over Joy Division. The duo started and remained with the band throughout its decades-long journey.
The film explores the band’s struggles with finding drummers and bassists willing to endure their chaotic lifestyle, using puppetry to depict dramatic fights and instances of Haynes’ nudity and intoxication. Longtime drummers Teresa Taylor and King Coffey emerge as integral figures later in the documentary, offering insight into the band’s wild touring escapades. Around the film’s midpoint, through archival concert footage and FaceTime interviews with former bassists, the band’s longest-serving bassist Jeff Pinkus is introduced.
Offering glimpses into the infamous Danceteria show, the documentary blends grainy footage with band members explaining the bacchanalia on stage. The show unfolds with Leary crossing his eyes in full sweat, thrashing his head into his guitar, Haynes screaming into the microphone with a megaphone and stumbling and stripping drunkenly and Coffey and Taylor ripping on the drums. As the night spirals further into madness, a plastered Haynes picks up Lynch, the naked dancer, and appears to attempt sex with her onstage. Although the pair claim nothing happened, other band members beg to differ.
The film continues to recount other pivotal moments in the Surfers’ career, such as when Haynes fired five shotgun blanks during a packed show at Lollapalooza, performances at the Viper Room with Johnny Depp and stories from the 688 Club, where RuPaul first got her start. Haynes also delves into his childhood trauma and addiction struggles. The documentary provides a vivid, unfiltered, yet light-hearted glimpse into one of the most inspiring, brilliant, and utterly wild rock bands of the ‘80s.
Ending on a bittersweet note, the film honors the deaths of Teresa Taylor and King Coffey’s husband. Haynes and Leary now lead happy lives with their families, their rock-and-roll past a hazy, drunken memory.
Five buttholes out of five
