Reunited Country-Punk Pioneers Come To Bay Area
By Dave Pehling
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- One of the early purveyors of "cowpunk" when they came together in 1984, Texas music institution the Hickoids return to the Bay Area for two shows in San Francisco and Santa Cruz this week.
Formed in Austin original guitarist Jukebox (aka John Jackson) and singer Jeff Smith, the band followed the path of Los Angeles punk-meets-roots outfits X and Tex & the Horseheads and fellow Austin crew Rank and File to become one of the earliest groups combining the energy of hardcore with the blues-based twang of country. Sharing stages with such punk icons as Black Flag and like-minded, country-tinged psychedelic punk band the Meat Puppets, the Hickoids soon established themselves as a leading light of the fertile Austin scene.
Playing local bills with blues-punks Poison 13 as well as groups from the more deranged end of the punk spectrum like the Butthole Surfers and Scratch Acid, the Hickoids built enough of a following to earn "Best Country Band" honors in the Austin Chronicle's Annual Reader's Poll in 1985. The group would expand its touring to the west coast, teaming with similar acts including the aforementioned Tex & The Horseheads and Blood on the Saddle to spread the gospel of their drunken, deranged style of cowpunk.
The Hickoids released their debut record We're In It For The Corn (the first-ever album project of Austin production maven Stuart Sullivan), which reached the worldwide underground with licensing deals for record companies in England and Germany. The Hickoids' second effort, an EP entitled Hard Corn, featured the band's snotty take on the Eagles hit "Take It Easy."
Guitarist Jukebox would suddenly leave the band mid-tour following the EP's release, leaving rhythm guitar player Davy Jones to take over as principle six-stringer. The group continued to work -- tracking its sophomore album Waltz A-Cross-Dress Texas with legendary SST producer Spot -- but disintegrated in San Francisco during a tour to promote the album almost immediately after its 1989 release. Smith and Jones attempted to rekindle the fire over the next couple of years before calling it quits again in 1991.
The Hickoids had played periodic reunion gigs in the 15 years that followed, but didn't make a serious go at the band until 2006 when the now sober Jones and Smith convened a new line-up of the group. After an abortive attempt to record the long-dormant follow-up to Waltz A-Cross-Dress Texas (the absurdly titled Hairy Chaffin' Ape Suit, in 2013 the band issued the raucous covers collection Kickin' It With the Twits on its own Saustex Records imprint. Filled with irreverent yet still bracing takes on classic songs by the Stones, the Move (a muscular, distorted version of "Brontosaurus"), Brian Eno and Elton John, the album earned the band excellent reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.
Since then, the band has launched its popular annual "Austin Corn Lovers Festival" and got honored with induction into the Austin Music Hall of Fame. Sadly, in 2014 the band suffered a major blow after Jones was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. While Jones would stay at home and begin treatment to fight the disease, the rest of the band rallied around him by playing fundraisers. He managed to perform with the Hickoids one more time about a year after receiving his diagnosis, but succumbed to the disease in November of 2015.
The band released some of the last recordings with Jones in October of 2016 on the EP The Out Of Towners, but the Hickoids have remained busy since with touring, plans to produce an album of new material and filming their ridiculous shenanigans onstage and off for a forthcoming Internet "surreality" television show that will coincide with the band's 35th anniversary next year. For these two shows in the Bay Area, the group will be joined by a variety of support acts.
For the Elbo Room appearance in San Francisco Tuesday night, the Hickoids are joined for the debut public performance of REQ'D. A side project of longtime Grannies guitarist and principle songwriter Doug "Sluggo" Cawley (aka Lois 'Carmen' DeNominator), REQ'D sets aside the Grannies' unhinged cross-dressing geriatric punk for a more roots-minded singer/songwriter approach. Enlisting a variety of collaborators in the studio including his wife and singer Laurian Rhodes (who fronted their '90s band Ain't), guitarist Anthony Pulsipher, bassist David Flores and former Iggy Pop/Tin Machine drummer Tony Sales among others, Cawley put his heart on his sleeve for a batch of surprisingly fragile and introspective tunes. Local band Bellyfruit opens the San Francisco show. The following night, the Hickoids will be joined at the Blue Lagoon in Santa Cruz by East Bay hardcore stalwarts Fang and Portland, OR-based DIY punks Ground Score.
The Hickoids
Tuesday, August 21, 9 p.m. $10
The Elbo Room
Wednesday, August 22, 9 p.m. $5
The Blue Lagoon