The Secret Prostitutes Were the Greatest Texan Band to Sing About Indonesian Communism (In Indonesian)

Image: Richard Ramos

Houston punks the Secret Prostitutes were a fast and furious trio who played a loud Killed By Death style of punk and garage. For eight years the trio punched out a bunch of records on a number of labels including Ken Rock, Bat Shit and Psycho Wolf.

The prodigious output of over 100 songs were sung mainly in Indonesian by drummer Adit Samudra and their live shows were known to be wild as they were obnoxious.

Although they played their final show back in July they’ve just released their swan song, the 17-song Tiger Express that is full of punk snarl, noise, guest vocalists, and even some saxophone.

Listen to a couple of songs from new album below and read a brief interview with guitarist Josh Wolf.

Noisey: Who or what is Tiger Express?
Josh Wolf: It’s a sign outside a 24-hour convenience store by my old house called Paks. I'm guessing it was called Tiger Express before it was Paks and they never took the sign down. We went to Paks all the time.

Is there much of an Indonesian community in Houston?
Houston is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the USA. It's awesome. Adit would be better to answer any questions specifically about the Indonesian community.

What do you think about the fact that the current Indonesian Prime Minister is a Slayer fan?
I think all the world's people should be Slayer fans. It's a very good thing.

Do real punks still listen to Slayer and kill from the cock?
I’m not sure who first said that but I heard it a long time ago at a party in Louisiana. We were debating if Slayer's Undisputed Attitude was lame or not, and I heard "real punks like Slayer!" As a big Slayer fan I thought that was a good philosophy. And yes, kill from the cock.Dicks rule. We are from Mars.

Image: Jason Fisher

You have some guest vocalists on the new album? Does this include Adit’s sister?
Yes we like to have guest singers on our records, just as long as they sing in any language other than English. Adit's sister, Amy, has appeared on all three of our full length LPs.

What were the highlights of your eight years together?
We had so many fun times it would be hard to remember but I guess I would have to say the most fun and memorable were the west coast tour with Turbokrieg and when we went to Cleveland. Also the OBN IIIs tour, the Spits Texas tour and the Chaos in Tejas where we were billed with Midnight, Ghoul, and Toxic Holocaust. Just so many.

Did the Secret Prostitutes leave Houston punk in better shape than it was in before?
Lucky for us the Houston punk scene has flourished and kind of exploded in recent years. I've seen it at it's worst as well. It always goes up and down, back and forth, good to bad and back to good again. I'm not sure if we left it in better shape or worse shape than it was before us (probably better hehe), but I do know that it will never be the same.

'Tiger Express' is available now on Torture Garden Pictures.