Rev. Horton Heat doesn’t get out much any more

A lot of people are pretending to say something nice to me because they want something. They want their band to open up for us. They want to give us their CD. Or, literally anything. They want to sell us insurance. They want us to come to where they work so they can show us off like show and tell day at school.

They want to "just" hang out - meaning that they want something more than hanging out, but since they're afraid that I may guess they want something, they clarify that they "just" want to hang out with me. The truth is they want to hang out with me and tell me about their brother's band - or get me to do something for them.

I don't mind all of that. It's just that when I can't hang out, a lot of people turn on a dime and get really mean.

It happens when we just go out for a night of fun too. But why? Really, really why?

I think it's jealousy. I know that may sound pompous of me, but, I remember what it was like before the jealousy. When Rev. Horton Heat was popular but still the underdogs, this wasn't happening as often and back then I was going out way more (all the time).

Then, as time went on, I noticed that just about every time I went out, someone started with the insults. Then, I noticed that, in between the good old nice people that I remembered, I was getting more and more into conversations that were geared toward insulting me.

Stuff like, "Well, I've never been a fan of yours!" Like I care. If your not a fan, fine. If I am a fan of somebody, I'll tell them maybe, but, if I am not a fan of someone, I realize that telling them so is an insult.

So, what bothers me is not that you're not a fan, it's that for some reason (probably since I'm more famous now and have more fans) you feel the need to not treat me like a normal human being. To knock me off of my pedestal. (By the way, I don't put myself on a pedestal, you shouldn't either.)

Would you tell your mother that she's looking way older now? Would you tell the bartender that the way he makes Martini's isn't near as good as the guy at blah-blah-blah? No. Why? Because it's normal human decorum to not say anything at all. Just don't buy his Martini's. Or, just please tell your mother she's still pretty.

The real reason for the insults is jealousy. Either they're jealous because they're trying to pretend that their local band of Rev. Horton Heat influenced wannabes are actually rock stars or they themselves are this, that, or the other.

Also, FYI, to us musicians (not just me), you really put yourself in an un-flattering light if your going to play music critic. Did you know that for the first almost decade of this band, every interview that I did with a music critic/writer (so-called experts) started off with the writer asking me, "So what is rockabilly?" Now they all feel they are in a position to tell me what rockabilly is. I've out-lasted a lot of those music critic/experts. What I'm getting at is that music critics are, for the large part, wannabes themselves. Trying to rise into their category is really like saying to me, "I'm pretending I'm not a complete idiot...which I am."

All of this is why, as time went on, I had to limit going out more and more. I just didn't enjoy getting insulted by wannabes and people picking fights with me. Ignoring these people or standing my ground just made matters worse. Like I said, I remember the good times, so, I can see the jealousy now.

I still go out, but, unfortunately, I enjoy it less now. The insults and the constant battle to avoid fights is the main reason, but I've got some other reasons that will be for another article. Those reasons are more about how sound men have ruined rock-and-roll.