Track Listing

1. I Save Cigarette Butts
2. Zing Splash
3. Michael Stipe
4. Oklahoma
5. Dancing Queen
6. John Glenn
7. Mr. Officer
8. White Man Sings the Blues
9. Die Anne
10. Scrapings from Ring
11. Deal

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #226738 in Music
• Released on: 1995-11-21
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
P is Bill Carter, Johnny Depp, Gibby Haines, Sal Jenco. With contributions from Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Steve Jones (Sex Pistols). Produced by Andrew Weiss (Rollins Band, Ween).

Customer Reviews

Good for those who want complete Gibby catalog....
P. What to say about P? Is it a gag/novelty act that so many acts at SXSW were before it became a "serious" musical venue? Is it a vehicle for Johnny Depp and Sal Jenco, or is it a side project of the (...)Surfers' Gibby Haynes between his fabulous but brief on-air radio gig on the then brand-new alternative radio station in the mid-90s and his return to whatever self-destructive habits consumed him before the BHS resurfaced after such a long hiatus?

[What a glorious and surreal couple of months that was, hearing Gibby, daily, on the radio, my, the gods shined their light down on Austin until the bigwigs at the station thought Gibby and his co-host Robbie Jacks (Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) didn't fit in with their vision. Whatever, I've digressed a bit.]

P, without Paul Leary on guitar, is definitely not like the (...)Surfers and maybe that was what Gibby was going for, but I didn't know that when I bought it when it first appeared at the local used bookstore shortly after it was released -- I saw Gibby on the label and grabbed it, much like most anything that has Paul Leary as producer -- with varying degrees of success.

[Sidenote, P has the distinction of being the band at Depp's Viper Room the night River Phoenix overdosed.]

So, stylistically, what the heck is it? BHS were so hard to describe in simple terms to folks not already into them, weren't they? No different than P. With the requisite song written by local Austin legend/resident psych patient Daniel Johnston (Nirvana fans will see Danny's famous martian toad artwork on Kurt's shirt in videos), and a nod to Abba with a twisted rendition of Dancing Queen, P hits everything in between -- you can hear hints of BHS, a bit of Meat Puppets, a whiff of Reverend Horton Heat. Or is it, perhaps you hear Gibby Haynes in all three? That must be it.

A little bit of punk-infused honky-tonk that was so popular in Austin back in the mid-90s, a bit of speed-swing, a little bit of blues, a little bit of that 50s teen death song style with that crying slide guitar and heavy reverb, kind of like the music they play at small county weekend carnivals that kind of creeps you out.

Final verdict? Only slighty less psychotic than (...)Surfers, but with Gibby at the helm, I have to qualify that, because the songs all have that little bit of irony and comedic tragedy inherent in most things Gibby touches.

For fans of Johnny Depp, you might be a bit disappointed because Gibby is the only vocalist, and if it turrns you on to Gibby, that's fantastic so don't consider it a loss.

For fans of Gibby Haynes, it's a good album to grab if you ever actually find a copy on a shelf somewhere. It'll complete your BHS/Gibby side project collection, and it'll showcase Gibby's talents outside the BHS in a way his work with Al Jourgensen never did -- Jesus Built My Hotrod is soooo totally a BHS song with Al as guest, not the other way around!

For others, it's a nice novelty act that'll have friend saying "I didn't know Captain Jack Sparrow and that (...)Surfers guy had a band!" as you flip through your other singer-turned-actor-turned-singer collection.

Even though I've given it four stars, it isn't one of those great album you constantly search for -- that's more for the loyalty I feel towards Gibby Haynes than anything else, and if it were anybody else I'd have given it a 3.

What it is is a nice addition to any already-stuffed music collection, a good segue when you want to switch between Wilco and (old) BHS or (old) Meat Puppets without making your ears bleed too much. The kind of segue that Depp and Gibby both did with this short-lived band before going on to bigger and better things.

GREAT!
It's not really what I expected at all. IT'S GREAT! Especially the song, Mr.Officer. Prepare to laugh. :)

Almost Surfers-esque, and a most worthy record
P is a great side project CD which allows the peerless Gibby Haynes and some of his friends to test out some psycho/weird ideas that might not have even found a place on a Butthole Surfers record. The songs are hilarious, whether Gibby's making fun of Michael Stipe, referencing his famous Jimmy Carter suitcase encounter (on "Zing Splash"), rocking out, whatever ("Oklahoma" and "Mr. Officer"), or doing a cover of ABBA's "Dancing Queen" so inspiring that Tesco Vee would have a tear in his eye. Everything you'd want in a good record is here.

Most people tend to regard P as "Johnny Depp's band." Although I hold no resentment towards Mr. Depp, as he is actually a very good guitarist (if not nearly as untouchable as Paul Leary), this is entirely Gibby's show. Then again, nobody gives the Butthole Surfers the respect they deserve. P fits nicely between the noise-meltdown of "Independent Worm Saloon" and the alternative rockin' "Electriclarryland." All Surfers fans should own it, cause this innovative band created a truly great record.