There’s a certain kind of sound that just surrounds you. If you’ve spent any time with Butthole Surfers, you know what I mean.
They just released “Imbuya”, the second single from their upcoming album After The Astronaut (due June 26, 2026).
“‘Imbuya’ was conceived and produced much like a fart after eating beans,” says guitarist Paul Leary.
“It’s a truly meaningless song. Kinda our thing,” Leary adds.
And if you know this band, you know that’s not a throwaway line. That is the approach.
“Imbuya” follows “Jet Fighter”, a surreal, surf-punk-leaning first single that already hinted at the direction of this record.
But After The Astronaut has a longer story behind it than most new releases.
You’re dealing with an album that was never supposed to disappear.
Originally scheduled for release on April 7, 1998, After The Astronaut was shelved by Capitol Records for being too abrasive and uncommercial.
Later, the material was reshaped into Weird Revolution in 2001, a version the band never fully stood behind.
“Hollywood Records bought the album but wanted to make changes to it which was an uncomfortable experience for us,” Leary notes.
Now you’re hearing it in its original form. Restored. Unfiltered. Left intact as it was first intended.
“Now we have the right to release the original recording the way we intended it to be with its original title, ‘After The Astronaut’,” he adds.
Here’s the track listing for After The Astronaut:
Side A
01. Weird Revolution
02. Intelligent Guy
03. Jet Fighter
04. Mexico
05. Imbuya
06. Venus
Side B
07. The Last Astronaut
08. Yentel
09. Junkie Jenny in Gaytown
10. They Came In
11. I Don’t Have a Problem
12. Turkey and Dressing
Produced by Paul Leary, engineered by Stuart Sullivan (Meat Puppets, Sublime), and mastered by Howie Weinberg, After The Astronaut arrives with its original intent restored and its artwork intact.
And when a band goes back and restores a lost record exactly as it was intended decades later, are you hearing nostalgia… or something that was finally allowed to exist in its real form all along?
