Biography
Paul Leary first gained recognition for his guitar work in the long-running Butthole Surfers, yet during the 1990s he also ranked among alt-rock’s busiest studio hands thanks to sessions with several leading acts of the era. Born in San Antonio, Texas, under the full name Paul Leary Walthall, he encountered future Butthole Surfers vocalist Gibby Haynes at Trinity University in the early 1980s. The pair bonded over shared enthusiasms for punk, experimental composers such as Frank Zappa and Yves Klein, and classic-rock bands including Creedence Clearwater Revival and Grand Funk Railroad. Their mutual taste for off-kilter humor soon led them to publish a local fanzine filled with lurid photographs of medical anomalies. Deciding higher education held little appeal, the two left Texas for California in 1982, at which point the Butthole Surfers took shape. Although the band operated closer to performance art than conventional rock, it aligned itself with the punk circuit and issued a succession of cult-favored albums throughout the decade, among them Locust Abortion Technician in 1987 and Hairway to Steven in 1988.
As the 1990s began, the Butthole Surfers edged nearer the mainstream after signing with Capitol and performing at the first Lollapalooza in 1991. Around the same period Leary released the solo album History of Dogs. The group maintained an active schedule of touring and recording, achieving a notable commercial success in 1996 when the single “Pepper” and its parent album Electriclarryland performed strongly. Leary meanwhile spent breaks from the band producing other projects, most prominently the Meat Puppets’ 1994 release Too High to Die and Sublime’s self-titled 1996 debut. Those credits generated further opportunities, leading him to helm recordings for Long Beach Dub Allstars, Jeremy Kay, Reverend Horton Heat, the Refreshments, Supersuckers, Daniel Johnston, and additional albums by the Meat Puppets and Sublime while also mixing tracks for Toadies, U2, Weezer, Jane’s Addiction, and Nelly Furtado. In addition, Leary contributed guitar to John Paul Jones’ Zooma, Stone Temple Pilots’ Purple, Roky Erickson’s All That May Do My Rhyme, and the Flaming Lips single “She Don’t Use Jelly.”
As the 1990s began, the Butthole Surfers edged nearer the mainstream after signing with Capitol and performing at the first Lollapalooza in 1991. Around the same period Leary released the solo album History of Dogs. The group maintained an active schedule of touring and recording, achieving a notable commercial success in 1996 when the single “Pepper” and its parent album Electriclarryland performed strongly. Leary meanwhile spent breaks from the band producing other projects, most prominently the Meat Puppets’ 1994 release Too High to Die and Sublime’s self-titled 1996 debut. Those credits generated further opportunities, leading him to helm recordings for Long Beach Dub Allstars, Jeremy Kay, Reverend Horton Heat, the Refreshments, Supersuckers, Daniel Johnston, and additional albums by the Meat Puppets and Sublime while also mixing tracks for Toadies, U2, Weezer, Jane’s Addiction, and Nelly Furtado. In addition, Leary contributed guitar to John Paul Jones’ Zooma, Stone Temple Pilots’ Purple, Roky Erickson’s All That May Do My Rhyme, and the Flaming Lips single “She Don’t Use Jelly.”
Albums
Singles
