Butthole Surfers: What Does Regret Mean? (Paperback Edition, Alternate Cover) – Well before we got a chance to review this rather plush rather good looking paperback version of the book, a book that originally came out a couple of years back, it has only gone and sold out (again).  These limited edition books Aeron Tanner lovingly puts together under the Melodic Virtue imprint are as much pieces of art as they are books, they tend to sell out rather quickly. Today, ahead of a couple of things Aeron has coming up (that people are asking us about as word leaks out), we thought we’d take a look at what he does. –

“Melodic Virtue is a small, artist-friendly independent publisher dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacies of underground bands through limited-run coffee table books”.

So the book landed here a couple o weeks ago, What Does Regret Mean? is a weighty tome, a rather impressive visual statement rather than just another conventional music history book, yeah, a coffee table book if you want to call it that but Coffee Table books tend to be a little throwaway, little bit more than fluff or stuff or…   

“Originally founded in 2004 as a graphic design studio by Aaron Tanner, Melodic Virtue produces fully authorized books that offer an immersive, and definitive, visual history of bands outside of mainstream music culture. Each authentic and unusual story is told through compelling design, rare photographs and artwork, and gripping first-hand anecdotes from their fans and contemporaries”

What Does Regret Mean? is immediately striking, before anything the book is beautiful to handle, the aesthetic is just right, the balance between those anecdotes and the visuals, the deliberately grainy gig flyers, the colour photos, the design attitude, the anecdotes from other musicians, their peers, those they influenced – I did want a Phil Tufnell quote, the respected English cricketer, who, when asked during a test match cricket commentary on the BBC back when the cricket coverage was a lot more stiff and formal than it is now, when asked who his favourite band was, replied something like “Butthole Surfers” and then after the cried of “who!?”, followed up with “no not really, I just wanted to say their name on BBC daytime radio and see your reactions” (I can’t remember his exact words now, I did remember it stopped me in my tracks for a second or two)    

“Butthole Surfers: What Does Regret Mean? is a fully authorized visual history of the band with never-before-seen photos, artwork, and other memorabilia and from the viewpoint of their contemporaries. It features an introduction by Mickey Melchiondo (Ween) and exclusive interviews from Rob Zombie, Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Eric Avery (Jane’s Addiction), Steven Drozd (The Flaming Lips), Al Jourgensen (Ministry), Nick Oliveri (Queens of the Stone Age), Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich (Pavement), Neko Case, Dale Crover (Melvins), Eric Wilson (Sublime), Henry Rollins, Daniel Johnston, Cris Kirkwood and Derrick Bostrom (Meat Puppets), Steven McDonald (Redd Kross), Berserker Blothar and Balsac The Jaws of Death (GWAR), David Yow (Jesus Lizard), and many more”

Aeron Tanner always works closely with the bands he chooses and I know he’s been approached and has turned down requests from various major labels to cover bands he really isn’t committed to. These books are made for the right reasons, his subjects matter to him, and he really does dig deep, chasing up people, fans with collections, those who put on gigs or released records as well as the band members themselves – this is not some tired old music hack churning out book after book on bands they really don’t care that much about. I love this Butthole Surfers book, it really is a piece of art, I love the design, I love the look, hey, I love old flyers and gig posters, they say more than a thousand words. I love the way this book has been put together. Yes, they are expensive, these books are for hardcore fans only, yes they are going to be beyond the pockets of a lot of people, a lot of those hardcore fans, I am guessing Melodic Virtue, rather like an independent record label releasing the music of these bands, makes very little money out of these high quality publications. 

So anyway, as we already said up there, and we tell you all this today because The Pond are asking, “the Pond” being the following of a band who just might be next in line. So anyway, “originally founded in 2004 as a graphic design studio by Aaron Tanner, Melodic Virtue produces fully authorized books that offer an immersive, and definitive, visual history of bands outside of mainstream music culture. Each authentic and unusual story is told through compelling design, rare photographs and artwork, and gripping first-hand anecdotes from their fans and contemporaries. 

“Aaron Tanner is a graphic designer, musician, and underground music archivist from Evansville, Indiana. Tanner’s mastery of design earned him recognition within the underground music community and ultimately led him to become Ween’s resident designer, a position he has held for over 20 years. He founded Melodic Virtue in 2004, a design firm catering to bands and regional businesses. While maintaining a diverse client roster that included Explosions in the Sky, Pinback, Mono, Juliana Hatfield, Tanya Donelly, Epitaph Records, Secretly Group, Temporary Residence Ltd., Joyful Noise Recordings, and pet celebs Lil BUB and Doug the Pug, Tanner created PIXIES: A Visual History, Volume 1 with co-author Sean Rayburn. The acclaimed publication received multiple national awards and propelled Tanner’s career in publishing.   

Inspired by visually focused books devoted to mainstream artists, he recognized the absence of similar works for important yet under-represented bands with their own rich visual histories. Determined to rectify this, Tanner delved into creating coffee table books that seamlessly combined his two passions: visual art and underground music. His unconventional design work with The Residents, Butthole Surfers, and Ministry has received critical acclaim, and each publication has earned a place in the permanent collections of esteemed institutions such as the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Punk Rock Museum, the Archive of Contemporary Music, and the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science.

Tanner brings a DIY ethic to the books he creates, incorporating a hands-on approach into his design and production process. That, along with his enduring commitment to underground artists, has opened a window into their unique legacies through his visually captivating books, combining compelling design, rare photographs, artwork, and first hand anecdotes from fans and contemporaries. With each project, Tanner provides a deep and genuinely authentic glimpse behind the curtain, leaving an indelible mark on the world of design at the intersection of art and music”.    

So far there’s been books on Ween, The Residents, Ministry, Lil Bub, Face To Face, Butthole Surfers and recently Aeron has been over here in the UK raiding our files and firing loads of e.mails at us for a forthcoming Cardiacs book that we’re getting rather excited about, watch this space…  

 Melodic Virtue