The Butthole Surfers
"Hurdy Gurdy Man"
Peter Negroponte — the experimental, heavy-hitting, time-switching drummer for the New York-by-way-of-Boston electro-psych art-rockers Guerilla Toss — recalls how the Butthole Surfers’ version of “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” “a silly deep cut song” from an old soundtrack, has lingered in his mind’s eye. Today, traces of its eclectic influence continue to inspire Peter as a bizarro musical muse, culminating in 2025’s Your Weird Now on Sub Pop Records. The release, Guerilla Toss’ sixth, further amplifies the band’s trippy edge, with indie-rock forefather Stephen Malkmus of Pavement producing and next-gen psych godfather Trey Anastasio of Phish guesting on the lead single, “Red Flag to Angry Bull.”
Growing up in New York City, Peter found the city’s treasure trove of sights — as well as its large swaths of symphonic discordant sounds — to be a perfect space for his inquisitive mind to explore, slowing down only when something truly special struck him. One such moment stemming from an everyday adventure.
“If I remember right,” Peter describes, “I was around seven years old, walking with my dad down Broadway. At the time, there was a Tower Records — a legendary music store, long gone but a huge, great place filled with everything music — where we stopped in. I was drawn toward a display where they were giving out a Dumb and Dumber film soundtrack single on cassette.”
Being a kid back then without instant, clickable streaming access, it was the tangible cassette with its cover art — along with the band and track names — that first grabbed his attention. “I recall Side A had “Ballad of the Pumpkinhead,” by The Crash Test Dummies [an XTC cover], and Side B had “Hurdy Gurdy Man” by the Butthole Surfers. I didn’t know at the time, but that too was a cover — first recorded by Donovan. Looking back now, I realize the Butthole Surfers’ version had the same spacey, off-kilter energy as the original but reflected Gibby's [the lead vocalist’s] vision.”
How the single went from Peter’s pocket to the car remains less vivid, but somehow it did — ultimately landing on a repeat, rewind-rewind, cassette rotation. “Our car was fitted with a built-in cassette deck, and I played the song all the time. I loved the bubbly, weird tremolo effect on the vocals that constantly cut in and out, with the lyrics almost sounding like gibberish. Its constant gurgling intrigued me.”
Being naturally curious, Peter continued listening to “Hurdy Gurdy Man” regularly. As his young mind was trying to process how the Butthole Surfers could create such eccentric sonics, he subliminally started tapping into song production. “Besides the lyrics, I picked up on the guitar, and while it might not have been the most unique tone, I recognized there was a bend in it with a bit of distortion, and I really started dialing into that sound, wondering how it was crafted alongside the vocals.”
When he thinks back on it now, Peter’s young mind was absorbing the distorted, fuzzy guitar tones and whirring, oscillating tremolos, imprinting them into his memory. Those same sonics would later resurface in Guerilla Toss’ music as quirky soundscapes layered over unconventional beats. He expands, “Oftentimes when I’m working alone or producing certain elements of our Guerilla stuff, I find myself subconsciously drawn to those avant-garde sound twists. The [abstracts] are always there.”
Now, after being in the band for 14-plus years, Peter realizes the strange ways the mind works. “In retrospect, it is just a silly song, but for some reason, I know I’ll never forget it. It is weird how that song — [and that instant in the record store] — made such an impact, left a mark on me, and how it still lingers.”
