Photo via the Hickcoids
Hickoids
Hickoids
Jeff Smith and his long-running Texas cowpunk band the Hickoids are returning to Milwaukee after more than three decades away, but there’s an unknown local sound man from the last time they played here who might want to confront him, Smith says.
The Hickoids, who play Friday at Shank Hall, were performing at the famed Unicorn in the basement of the now demolished Sidney Hih building, sometime between 1988 and 1990, Smith remembers (his story, with some cartoon-type elements, caused me to spit out my sparkling water at one point on my iPad). A Kansas City garage band, the Sin City Disciples, was also on the bill, and Smith fondly recalls Unicorn owner Gus Hosseini, who now operates Gus’ Deli in West Allis.
“He kind of a kind of affable dude, you know, but kind of dangerous too at the same time, and so he had that Mexican restaurant,” he said. “He would run the cash register there until they closed it at like noon or one, something like that. And then he’d go upstairs and collect money from the artist lofts upstairs, and I guess go take a nap for a little while after that. Then, he would run the door and bartend simultaneously. He’d like have his leg across the door, and he wouldn’t get up to serve you a drink if there was anybody at the door. He had tight, tight control of his cash flow. I’ll put it that way.”
Burning Love
But back to the Hickoids playing and the potentially angry sound man.
“There wasn’t a tremendous number of people there, but I do recall the sound man that night that I guess I owe an apology to,” Smith says. “I was kind of hitting on his girlfriend, and I passed out in the (sound) booth. And so, the club was in the basement. I passed out in this booth talking to his girlfriend, and one of the guys, they had to drag me up the stairs. They dragged me out there like by one arm, and so about a day and a half later, I was in the van. I was like, ‘Man, did you guys see me fall the other night or something?’ And they all started busting up, laughing in the van.”
A Brand New Way of Living
The Hickoids were formed in 1984 in Austin by lead vocalist Smith and guitarist John Thompson Jackson (aka Jukebox), with the idea of merging hardcore punk and hardcore country. They put out two albums, We’re In It for the Corn in 1985 and Waltz A Crossdress Texas in 1989 before breaking up in the early ’90s.
Smith says he was friends with Jukebox, who passed away in 2013, for a year before he even learned that he could play a guitar. He and Jukebox were the only members of the original band to play on the Hickoids’ 1985 debut album.
“He was very inspired by Jimi Hendrix in a good way, not somebody who was a guitar god acting dude, but just a wild ass,” Smith says. “He meshed up the psychedelic influence with the hard country influence, and so that was kind of our starting point. You know, with more punk tempos and more sort of a punk outlook. But there were splashes of glam in there. Alice Cooper, you know, and you know whatever else was going on around us.
“The Dicks and The Big Boys. There was a lot of different things going on. It was a lot of things to kind of squeeze into one concept and make it our own, but it was a great time when we were we were coming out in Austin. You know, the Butthole Surfers were starting to blow up. Scratch Acid, Offenders, a great you know, speed hardcore band. (Bands) that really had the musical side down rather just the fast tempos, and so it was an exciting time to be in Austin.”
Getting the Band Back Together & Starting a Record Label
Around 2005, Smith reunited with another longtime Hickoid, guitarist Davy Jones, and decided to give the band another chance. Just before the reunion, Smith says he had sobered up and was living in a hotel room in Amarillo and working construction. He had managed to save enough money to start a record company, Saustex Records, which is still going strong, with more than 50 releases. The label’s first release was Stevie Tombstone’s 2003 debut solo album, 7:30 A.M.
The Hickoids 2.0 made their return to the studio with an album of British cover songs, Kicking It With the Twits in 2011 and made an excellent album of original songs in 2013 called Harry Chafin’ Ape Suit, both on Saustex. Sadly, Jones passed away in 2015. Smith is the only person who played on the band’s first album still alive.
But the band has not stopped. Smith says some of the high points, outside of the new music the Hickoids have created, have been playing with bands and artists like the Flamin’ Groovies, Buzzcocks and John Cale, and playing for new and old fans.
“The reward is that is that people still come to see us,” he says. “And we do try and make every show you know truly memorable. I wouldn't say that we succeed 100% of the time, but we succeed a lot of the time.”
Sleazy Riders
The band’s current lineup, all of whom will be in Milwaukee, has been together for about the past decade: Smith (lead vocals), Tom Trusnovic (bass), Lancy Farley (drums), Cody Richardson (guitar and the only real farmer to be in the band, Smith says) and Harvey McLaughlin (electric organ and guitar).
The Hickoids are working on a new album, More Ballads for Sleazy Riders, but Smith is unsure when it might be released.
“I can consider myself very lucky,” he says. “I'm surrounded by a talented bunch of dudes, and you know, I’m the least talented musically of them. They make it possible. It’s not false humility; it's the truth, and I do mean that. They got my back, and they go along with my half-baked ideas. We make it work somewhere or another.”
The Hickoids are playing at 8 p.m. Friday, July 31 at Shank Hall, 1434 N. Farwell Ave., Milwaukee.
