Nearly three decades after it was abruptly shelved by their label, the lost Butthole Surfers album After The Astronaut is finally getting an official release.
On June 26, 2026, the long-mythologized record will arrive via Sunset Blvd. Records, giving fans their first chance to hear the band’s intended follow-up to 1996’s Electric Larryland – the album that produced the alternative radio smash “Pepper”.
Originally completed in 1998, After The Astronaut was pulled from the release schedule at the last minute by Capitol Records, which reportedly pushed the band to deliver something more “commercial.” But anyone familiar with the group’s famously unpredictable catalog knows that was never part of the plan.
“We were pretty stoked to make another album after the success of our previous album and its single ‘Pepper,'” guitarist Paul Leary recalled. “Capitol Records was stoked to get that next record until our relationship soured.”
Following legal wrangling, the band was released from the label’s roster and their contract was sold. “Hollywood Records bought the album but wanted to make changes to it which was an uncomfortable experience for us,” Leary said. The reworked material eventually surfaced years later as the 2001 album Weird Revolution.
“Now we have the right to release the original recording the way we intended it to be with its original title, After The Astronaut.”
Rather than chasing the alternative rock trends dominating late-’90s radio, the band leaned even deeper into their experimental instincts. Reacting to the grunge and alt-rock sounds filling the airwaves at the time, the trio – Gibby Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey – veered into electronics, industrial rhythms, and psychedelic textures.
“After the Astronaut was a fun project,” Coffey said. “We were using all the digital toys at our disposal at the time, and it felt much like the creation of Locust Abortion Technician. We were playing with new toys, creating things that amused us with the crayons we had, and we weren’t worried about radio airplay.”
After The Astronaut features Haynes on vocals and synths, Leary on guitar, bass, and keyboards, and Coffey on drum machines. The album was produced and mixed by Leary, engineered by Stuart Sullivan at Arlyn Recording Studio, and mastered by Howie Weinberg.
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