Jim Heath is a class act. The Gretsch Guitars endorsed singer - songwriter has penned many fantastic rockabilly and rock n' roll songs over the past 30-something years and consistently delivered a high energy performance night after night without fail. His seldom changing lineup of musicians in his legendary group ‘The Reverend Horton Heat’ are a testament to his character as a band leader, and his willingness to bring a broad spectrum of bands on tour ranging from punk to country serves to show his belief that rock n'; roll is too big and too important to put into just one category.
This is all reaffirmed by a hand shake that took place a few years back when The Reverend Horton Heat partnered with Victory Records, a label known for their roster of hardcore punk and metal, to which Heath is more than proud to have released the last two Reverend Horton Heat albums, the first being ‘REV’ and the second being “Brand New Life” which is the reason I was given the honor to speak to the man, himself.
‘Brand New Life’ is a special album. It’s the album that has been the most well received in the history of The Reverend Horton Heat’s catalogue since the early days – it’s also the album that almost never was.
The departure of drummer Scott Churilla came as The Reverend Horton Heat was set to go into the studio to record ‘Whole New Life’ and took a lot of the wind out of the sails of the remaining members. “It was a real blow because due to our extensive tour schedule… if we can’t make the album at the time we’re slated to do so, it won’t get made for years after.” That is unless your replacement
drummer is RJ Contreras; who, with a stroke of magic and an extensive amount of music education and experience charts out your brand new album over a weekend and records his parts like he was born playing them. Contreras’ contributions to The Reverend Horton Heat cannot be understated – recording the album essentially was his audition.
Within a couple weeks of that, The Reverend Horton Heat flew in to Edmonton, AB to play The Up & Downtown Festival 2017, and with that incredible performance in my recent memory, it’s fair to say that the new album wasn’t the only selection of Reverend Horton Heat songs RJ spent time on.