Any John Wayne Gacy fans in the house?

“I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of art would come out of the mind of a serial killer, so I decided to have him paint a picture of me,” ...says cowpunk singer-guitarist Glen Meadmore, whose 1993 album Hot, Horny, and Born Again features a cover created by serial killer John Wayne Gacy before his May 1994 execution.

“I sent him a money order for about $100 and a photograph that Rick Castro took of me in blue face, riding a carousel horse, and he shipped the finished painting to me. He never heard my music, but we would often talk about sex on the phone. He eventually painted three more portraits of me.... He said I had the most commission portraits of anybody that he had painted for.”

When Meadmore plays the Tower Bar on September 22, that will make it twice that he's played San Diego. He opened for the Muffs at the Casbah in the early ’90s. On another local note, his band has at times included 'Diego drag star RuPaul, who also appeared in Meadmore’s videos.

Meadmore’s albums have also featured art by a founding member of Devo, whose frequent drummer David Kendrick will appear with Meadmore’s band at the Tower Bar. “Mark Mothersbaugh did a drawing of me being raped by an alien while we had dinner at a restaurant in Hollywood, and it was that picture that I ended up using on my album. I’ve always been a fan of Devo but can’t say that it’s been a direct influence on my music.”

Asked to describe that music for anyone interested in seeing him in City Heights, he says “We do a blend of loud, raucous, distorted guitar and Appalachian melodies far removed from what most people think of alt-country or psychobilly. Think Carter Family meets Motörhead.”