Photo credit: Thom Jackson
Reverend Horton Heat
At a recent performance at a private event, Reverend Horton Heat frontman Jim Heath had an unusual encounter with one of the attendees.
“There were these young people there, and this young girl came up—and I say young, she was late teens/early 20s—and she said, ‘You guys are going to bring back rock ’n’ roll,’” Heath recalled. The observation struck a chord with him. “I said (to her), ‘Well, that is the goal. It’s astute of you to notice that,’” he said. “That’s what I’m thinking here.”
Lately rock ’n’ roll has been on Heath’s mind. “See, I have a very tight idea of what rock ’n’ roll is,” he said. “What I want to do is bring back rock ’n’ roll. We can play rockabilly, we can play country, we can play our old stuff and whatever is fine. But just straight rock ’n’ roll—and we have those songs that are on all of our albums—I’m about to start bringing those back. To me, rock ’n’ roll is that straight eight, Chuck Berry (with) Johnnie Johnson pounding straight eights on a rock ’n’ roll piano, or Little Richard. I’m influenced a lot in my playing by piano players, Jerry Lee (Lewis), and that straight-eight kind of feel.”
As Heath suggested, he has been recording songs that fit his strict definition of rock ’n’ roll since he formed the Reverend Horton Heat in the late 1980s. But with the group’s new album, Whole New Life, he is focusing more on creating songs in the vein of music’s early pioneers.
That isn’t the only thing that makes Whole New Life stand out in the Reverend Horton Heat catalog of 12 albums. This album marks a new era for the band itself. After being a trio for nearly all of its 30-plus-year history, the group is now a quartet, with Matt Jordan playing piano and organ.
There’s also a new drummer, Arjuna “RJ” Contreras, who took over just prior to the recording of Whole New Life for Scott Churilla, who over two stints behind the drum kit spent 16 years with the Reverend Horton Heat—easily the longest tenure of any of the five previous drummers that have played in the band, which also includes long-time bassist Jimbo Wallace.
Contreras is making his presence felt with his command of a variety of styles of rhythm and an ability to put a bit more swing into the Reverend Horton Heat sound. But it’s Jordan, whose piano is the most noticeable new ingredient in the music and helps the band achieve more of the early rock ’n’ roll sound that Heath wants to emphasize going forward.
Heath points to the title song, “Wonky,” “Perfect” and “Got It In My Pocket” as prime examples of songs from “Whole New Life” that embody the early rock ’n’ roll sound. These songs still feature Heath’s guitar work (especially on the latter pair of tunes), but are aided greatly by Jordan’s driving piano lines and the high-octane tempos being laid down by Contreras.
Whole New Life, though, is not a one-note album by any means. “Tchoupitoulas Street” is a rare—for the Reverend Horton Heat—foray into New Orleans R&B. There’s a bluesy, barrelhouse feel to “Hog Tyin’ Woman,” a tune that continues Heath’s tradition of writing the occasional off-the-wall funny song. The ballad “Don’t Let Go Of Me” is one of the few songs that downshift the tempo, mixing rock and hints of classic R&B over a measured beat. The song also gives Heath the opportunity to showcase his vocal range as he croons his way through the song’s strong melody.
Heath also brings a bit of a different tone to Whole New Life as a lyricist. “It’s by far the most positive album I’ve ever written lyrically,” he said. “Most of my stuff is kind of dark and blue, and this one has some positive ideas going on.”
Now touring has resumed and fans can expect to hear upwards of five songs off of “Whole New Life” when the Reverend Horton Heat comes to town. Heath reports that the new material was going down well with fans, even ahead of the album’s release on Nov. 30. The addition of piano is also allowing the group to put a fresh spin on some of its older songs.
“We’ve got Matt playing on pretty much the whole set,’” Heath said. “We’ve been throwing in solos on some of our old songs. It sounds killer.”
Reverend Horton Heat plays Shank Hall on Thursday, Nov. 29, with Big Sandy, Junior Brown and The Blasters at 8 p.m.
