Photo Courtesy of Shore Fire Media What's Gibby Haynes' problem? Find out when the former singer of the Butthole Surfers brings his new band to Club Congress on Sept. 7.

While being offensive may have gotten the Butthole Surfers' front man Gibby Haynes far in the past, that will not be his focus this time around. His psychedelic side project, Gibby Haynes and His Problem, is just plain good music. And though neither he nor his friends will tell you exactly what his real problem is, getting $5,000 to get chemotherapy for his dying Jack Russell is one of them.

W: What prompted you to make this album?

GH: I don't know. It happened a long time ago. Like 20 years ago, wanting to make albums. I don't know why. I don't know why I think my shit smells better than everyone else's. I didn't say that. I fucking have no idea. You know what ... attention ... I wanted to get attention, more attention. I wasn't getting enough attention. And you can also spell attention, "p-u-s-s-y" if you want. Probably the whole thing, just booze, tobacco, dope, pussy, cars, the whole thing.

W: Why did you decide to go more psychedelic for this album?

GH: Ah, because the last one wasn't psychedelic enough. Maybe some people sit down and decide what kind of record they're going to make and do it. But I can just go one song at time. If you do that, then you just pretend that each song has its unique little life and that's sort of what you cling to. When in fact, they all sound the same. Since I've sort of lived my life in a sort of non-precise sort of fashion, they just sound different. It's actually just the same fucking song over and over. Which is what Metallica does. There's so many bands where all their songs sound the same. But they're great. (sings some lines).

W: So is this a break from The Butthole Surfers, or is this just a side project?

GH: Both of them will record again, absolutely. I promise you a psychedelic noise record within 48 months.

W: In your song "Superman," there's a line "everything is superman." Is that a play on words?

GH: Everything is super. It's two different things. Everything is super ... man, and everything is Superman. And Superman has killer weed.

W: Based on the album title, "Gibby Haynes and His Problem," what is your problem?

GH: Right now my central problem is opening up this beer bottle. Can you hang on just a second? Yeah, we just got through practicing. Now what's my problem. Just ask one of my friends and they wont' tell you, but they'll know. What would my central problem be? My temper?

W: Why did you name the band that?

GH: I haven't even considered it. The concept I do believe is simply humor, or a lame attempt at it. You gotta come up with a band name and since the best band name in the world is already taken, then what do you do? What's a mother to do?

W: What's your favorite type of venue to play at?

GH: Small. With a good PA and a good monitor. Something real small where the crowd is right in front of your face, sort of right there. Where they can touch you and you can touch them. That's the best way. Where you're like two feet off the ground at the most. Every musician ever likes that. When you get really big and you start playing in those situations where the stage is really big and then you have that 10-foot space with that big fat guy there. The big line of the big fat guys, who don't seem to be very interested in the music, because they're big and fat. I don't know. It may be big powerful men, who naturally don't like the kind of music I do. I don't know what the deal is. I don't what the deal is. Why those big muscle builder men always show up in that little zone. But playing these small venues, we avoid the big muscle builder dudes.

W: You guys have been kind of known for controversial titles. Is there any controversy for this tour or album?

GH: Sort of. The woman that's on the front cover of the album with pearls all over her face. And on the inside there's a couple of women who aren't band members, maybe just one woman. They were found photographs of glamour shots like at a mall to dress up and try to look sexy when your marriage is breaking up and you're gaining a little weight. You go to the mall in search of fixing your marriage and you want to have more sex or whatever the deal is. That kind of situation is really appealing and it's a real hook for me. It just calls to me to take those women and maybe do something else with them. The controversy is because even though it's on an indie label, it's manufactured by Warner Bros. And because Warner Bros., I guess they have to worry about the duck. Warner Bros ... is that Donald Duck?

W: No that's Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

GH: Oh Bugs, it's the bunny. The other label is the mouse ... this is the duck.

W: How do you write? Do you do lyrics first?

GH: We'll just be jamming around and we'll come up with a repetitive piece, that's usually two to eight measures long, something repetitive like a riff we'll go over and over again and record it. And maybe go on to another one. And then listen to them and the ones that stand out, we'll play again and add another part to it. And then you get anther part. The part that you originally you came up with is usually going to be a verse or a chorus. And then what I've done when I'm coming up with a vocal riff, that may or may not have anything to do with the lyrics. There may be a couple words like "hey nine one and then blah blah blah" with some sense of a melody. And then literally mumble a melody and then make a recording of the song with the final music. It usually has a theme like rejection, repression. I don't know. What do you write songs about?