Orcutt Shelley Miller and Jesus Lizard’s David Yow get together and do a Captain Beefheart cover reads like the setup to an incredibly niche indie rock joke. I assure you it’s not. And it’s not a joke either. They’ve just dropped a rendition of Captain Beefheart’s “Hot Head.” Physical copies drop next month, but you can listen online now. And you should—especially if you’re a fan of setting your hair on fire.
From Ethan Miller:
On how “Hot Head” came about, OSM bassist Miller explains: “Beefheart is, as Bill would say, definitely one of our big Venn diagram intersections for OSM. Bill had been throwing the ‘Hot Head’ riff into the middle of one of our tunes that had a similar tempo on certain nights on tour. We just kept digging in further and further until it was a full song embedded within another song.”
Miller continues: “David Yow and Steve were old friends, and David just seemed like a perfect fit to bring it home and do Captain’s duties on vocals. David is one of the great through-lines helping to carry the spirit of Beefheart’s musical legacy into and beyond alternative music of the ’90s and 2000s. In my estimation, that explosive blending of sonic complexity and visceral, primitive expression is really at the heart of David and The Jesus Lizard’s power, as it is also at the heart of Orcutt Shelley Miller. Beefheart hand-carved the model for that musical dynamic in marble.”
On the subject of Beefheart, Yow says, “I am extremely grateful for Don Van Vliet and the stuff he made, both the things you look at and the things you listen to, but no more so than OSM. That may or may not be the truth.”
The B-side is a Dylan cover for those who are into that sort of thing.
Kevin Sent 