The Butthole Surfers proved they weren’t just another punk band with a foul name when they released Electriclarryland in 1996. “Pepper” was a chart topper then, and it still gets radio play. “Some will die in hot pursuit/ and fiery auto crashes/ Some will die in hot pursuit/ while sifting through my ashes.” Coherent stuff for a band that mainly writes raunchy high school locker-room rhymes about how the Lord is a monkey or Dracula is really from Houston.

Onstage, crossdressing, mutilated toy animals, toilet paper, vocals shouted through a megaphone, flames, smoke, blood-and-guts films behind the band, a female dancer, and blinding strobes are the norm. Granted, the show has been toned down somewhat, but not by much. After witnessing the Butthole Surfer experience live, one might wonder, But what are they really like? “Disturbing” is a word that comes to mind. But without Alternative Tentacles in 1983, there may have been no Nirvana. Kurt Cobain called the Butthole Surfers one of his main influences. Ditto Slipknot and Marilyn Manson. Whatever sideshows those bands brought to the arena, Butthole Surfers brought it first.

College chums Gibson Haynes and Paul Leary Walthall founded the band in San Antonio in 1981. Post grad, they took normal jobs, things didn’t work out as nine-to-fivers, and they started a band. Their best years? 1986 to 1989 with Jeff Pinkus and Teresa Nervosa, a lineup that would reunite for a short while and tour until 2009. The Surfers haven’t released any new material since 2001, but no worries. Who goes for the music?

400 Blows also performs.

BUTTHOLE SURFERS: Brick by Brick, Friday, August 26, 8 p.m. 619-275-5483. $25.