After eight years away, the legendary Butthole Surfers recently reunited on stage for a performance in support of a new documentary all about their infamous and storied career.

On Tuesday, Sept. 23, the new film — The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt — was screened at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California. NME notes that the Tom Stern-directed film was making its West Coast premiere, as part of Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque.

Butthole Surfers were scheduled for a Q&A following the screening, but also ended up doing a medley of tunes for those in attendance. They surprised the crowd with three songs: “Cherub,” “The Colored FBI Guy,” and “The Shah Sleeps In Lee Harvey’s Grave.”

The band’s founders, Gibby Haynes (vocals) and Paul Leary (guitar), were present, as were classic members King Coffey (drums) and Jeff Pinkus (bass). Check out some footage from the set below.

The Butthole Surfers’ set this week marked their first live performance since playing together in San Pedro, California, in October 2017. The band has never officially broken up, but has been on a hiatus for about 10 years, with the new set marking only their fourth time playing together since 2011.

Back in 2020, Haynes sat down for a chat with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips to chat about their mutual careers. At one point, Coyne asked if the band was “still active as the Butthole Surfers,” to which Haynes replied, “No, Paul won’t play.”

“We’ve gotten huge offers to play just ten minutes away from Paul’s house, and he’s like, “I don’t know, man, it seems kind of weird.” And I’m like, “OK, man.” I don’t give a fuck. It doesn’t bother me,” he continued.

Elsewhere in the interview, Haynes offered a bit of personal update, saying, “I’m trying to figure out how to unscrew my entire life right now. I had a radio show in Austin for a while. I played the shit out of “Vaseline.” I had people calling in—they were like, “Why do you like that Flaming Lips song so much?” I was like, “I don’t know, I’m just playing it.”

He then added, “And… I forgot the rest of the story… oh well.”