Howdy Friends and Neighbors, Well it's finally time for another tour update. Please accept my apologies for not being better at doing these in a timely manner. And thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the nice responses to the tour updates. Since I've done one of these last time, so much has happened, I couldn't begin to tell you all of it. But, I love a captive audience so here goes. After the Roar Tour, we took off about two weeks. In that time I met Ed Stasium (he's a genius and a real nice guy). Then without Ed, we went into two different studios to do demos for our new album. I discovered that I was able to write and record a song every day for days in a row (with the help of Jimbo and Scott). In between these sessions, we played gigs. Some of them I don't remember. Then we went into Dallas Sound Lab with Ed at the helm. Our initial agreement with Ed was that we would co-produce. But then, his ideas were so right on track with what we were trying to get we just kinda let Ed take the project over. He knew what we wanted, yet, I assure you that all these ideas were what I wanted, i.e. nobody made us do anything that wasn't our idea. It's always funny when some critic blames our producer for something that was my idea. Sometimes bad press works in your favor! Anyway, I'm thankful for meeting such a great person as Edbo. So...then we went to Castle Oaks to mix. It's in the Calabasass area of CA. We worked with the same console that was used to mix that "007 theme". We didn't use any digital effects on the mixing of the album. By the time we were finished with the mixdown, it felt as if I had been in a studio every day for three months (that's an estimate that is very close to reality). I was ready to just lay around for a while. It's a great record despite what the little music critic for the Dallas Observer says. By the way, we are bigger in fourteen different cities than we are in Dalllas. Probably because of silly reviews by Dallas locals who don't really know what's going on in the "major" cities. After that it was getting into the holiday season. We played a few gigs, but, we were really laying low. Then we did a tour starting around a New Years Eve show in Orange County, where we have a lot of great fans and friends. We were playing mainly all new songs and it felt really great to hear good response for them. I feel real guilty for not doing a tour update for that tour. A lot of stuff happened. We played a lot of sold-out shows, Drew Carey was in the mosh pit. I had dinner with Rob Zombie. Don't drop names, DeNiro told me that. Actually, Drew Carey told me that, and, it was in another tour update, but, it's still a great quote. I am always deeply appreciative that my career has allowed me to do some wonderful stuff. Then we played Mardi Gras. Joe Clay was there and he was great. If you haven't heard Joe Clay you must. Then we started the tour we are on right now at another show in New Orleans. Sounds simple. It's not. A lot of stuff happened in between my short little sentences in this run-on paragraph. So that brings us up to now, kinda. It's spring time. A beautiful season of newness, change, and a bright beginning. Fitting that we be releasing a new C.D."Space Heater" in the spring. This is the time when we have to start replacing some of the old songs with some of the new. We get some fun new songs to play as well as some great new fans. It's funny, but, it happens every time we release a new C.D. The nay- sayers and the critics come out of the wood-work. All of these little-minded people are just people who wouldn't know energetic and fresh music if God himself was wailin' through two Fender twins in their bedroom. Don't get me wrong - we have had just about all positive reviews and comments from music critics and fans and we appreciate all the nice things that were said about us. However, some of the mean-spirited crap out there happens every time we release a new project. It happens to everybody who tries to do something new. Some music critics don't know the first detail about what all goes into the making of a project like "Space Heater". However, they are vaulted into some poser position because like everyone on this planet, they think they have great taste in music. They think that everybody that reads their article is going to get some real "expert" information. They consider themselves to be an expert because they have the most extensive collection of out-takes of the band "The Replacements". Then, oh yeah, they can play a D chord on the guitar. And, oh yeah, since nobody is there to criticize them, they can feel like their "expert status fantasy" is reality. Just a word of caution to you mad E-mailer wanna-be music critics. Pick up a Spin magazine from say...1991. Read the flowery bull-shit about bands that were being vaulted to super-god status. Laugh at how naive the critic that wrote this silly piece must feel now that the band went nowhere. Realize how ridiculous the stuff you are reading now in Spin is going to look in five years. Then realize how ridiculous the stuff you are writing might look right now. When we released the C.D. called "Liquor In The Front", Spin magazine told our record label, "we don't think people that read magazines will be Reverend Horton Heat fans." It's just as well that they leave me (us) out of their magazine. I don't really feel the need to be any more recognized anyway. Life is good. It's spring time! It's a new beginning. It always happens. We have to play our new songs and some of our old fans don't like them. When we played the songs "400 Bucks" and "Wiggle Stick", some of our old fans said, "Wow, your old stuff had a lot more energy." Word of caution...that is the oldest sixties-style cliche' in the damn book. Stop acting like a hippy. That whole "their first album was the best, man." thing is for idiots. It implies, among other things, that bands don't get better. Do something for two hours a day for 250 days a year for ten years or even a year. You'll get better. But, it is so comforting to that frustrated wanna-be in a band or music critic to think that they are great allready, they tried enough, and it's the music business that doesn't realize it. Music critics are sometimes just people who can't do anything on their own, so, they resent and critique those who can. If it weren't for people who do something successfully, the critics (and arm-chair critics) would have nothing to write about. But, more importantly, realize that it's not about "best". "Best" is for sports, accountants, or consumer advocates or something. "Best" has nothing to do with the relaying of new ideas. It's also going to be funny when we release our next C.D., whatever it is going to be called, we'll have some old fans say, "Man, that new Rev. C.D. doesn't have the energy that 'Space heater' does! That was the best one!" Well, we hope that those old critics don't show up to our show because we'll have three new fans that need each space. You know what? I think some fans wouldn't be happy unless our new C.D. contained only old songs! You know what else I think? I think that a few of our "old fans" are jealous of our new fans! They like to brag that they knew about us first. I'm reminded of a time...I guess it was around 1991. We were playing in Hollywood thanks to Lloyd Martin at the Blue Saloon. I think we may still hold the attendance record for that place. Anyway, it was a packed house and things were going great. We played a new song. A slow song that I thought was pretty good. After our set, an "old fan" from L.A., a girl no less ( I thought all girls loved slow songs) said, "That new slow song...it sucks!" I said, "really?" She said, "yeah, you should drop that song from your set, it's not working." (Right now I'm thinking of all of the times I've heard the saying, "it's not working" from the "experts".) The song was called "In Your Wildest Dreams" which, since then, has worked very well not only on our C.D., but, in our sets, in a motion picture, and on prime-time T.V. Seems like the only thing that sucked there was the advice from a well-meaning old fan. Whenever someone tries to help us keep from "shooting ourselves in the foot - artistically", they shoot themselves in the foot - comically. I am thankful for the laughs. And to all the mad E-mailing arm-chair music critics - your thoughts are going to be really funny to everybody next year or maybe even in a few months. It also reminds me of a drummer we had one time (not Taz). His girlfriend hated the song "Loaded Gun" (what is it with this girl/slow-song thing?), and sometimes he would reluctantly request that we not play that song. Since then, "Loaded Gun" has been used in a motion picture and has been recorded with great success by several other artists. I also just added it to the set list for this current tour. Anyway, the point of this deal is to be careful what you say. Every day, Reverend Horton Heat as a group, does something that makes some critical statement look stupid, spiteful, and short-sighted. The first time someone said that we were as big as we were ever going to be was back in the 80's. Where are those idiots now? Who cares. Whew... I'm glad I got all that off of my chest! HA HA. This current tour is going all over the U.S. We have two great, but, very different bands. Face to Face and The Mighty Blue Kings are on this tour with us and we are thrilled. Also, I brought back the sermon for this tour. And I hope you all enjoy our new C.D. "Space Heater". We have some really fun new songs to play now. Being a critic should not be confused with doing something on your own. Listen to your heart, work hard, and never give up. No one is born with talent. God's gift to you is this - practice very hard and people will say you have God-given talent. Jim "Rev. Horton" Heath p.s. Jimbo just called and said that another music critic from the Dallas Observer just called saying he wanted an interview. HA HA.