Banjos, vocals and box at East Village in Monterey.

Professor Gall frontman Drew Norman – who does vocals, guitar, percussion stomp box and banjo – growls with vocal chords to make Tom Waits proud. “Whiskey was the medicine to get me through another Christmas Eve,” he sings.

Norman often sports a junkyard top hat and sleeveless Oxford shirt; his belly burns with a jumble of witty, crass, sarcastic and urgent prose that leads the eight-piece outfit into a dimension where Fellini and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins eat mescaline under graveyard sunsets. Playing what they call a “tincture of junkyard folk and steampunk jazz,” the Portland group relays a mystical blend of New Orleans funeral procession melodies, whiskey-steeped blues and circus-caliber dramatics on original compositions like “NOLA.” The octet’s talented horn section, including saxophonist Scott Johnston, trombonist Monte Skillings and clarinetist Andrew “Clarinet,” adds kick.

“They have some of the oldest buildings, but some of the newest gravestones/ What makes them rebuild?” Norman asks on the Big Easy homage. He answers the question in the song’s closing: “The magic in the streets now blazing with the ‘Krewe Du Vieux’… and it’s through this code of humanity that breaks the proverbial chain/ And the fire never gets hot enough to torch that freedom train.”

Many times, Norman’s lyrical realism leans toward the darker side.

“Well, my bath water is yellow and dumpster diving for that sequin dress was mighty nice/ If I can keep my head above the water the night will drift away twice,” he howls on “Funky Water.”

Since their full-length debut, Intravenous Delusion, Professor Gall’s infectious brand of musical theater has helped them share bills with everyone from The Devil Makes Three to the Dandy Warhols.

“I do more of an interactive performance,” Norman says. “I get the audience involved.”

That interaction can include asking the audience to add an instrumental quality. Other times, Norman’s poetry on songs like “Nature Vs. Narcissism” is captivating enough to furnish an illusion of interactivity by itself.

“The wind has an innocent conversation with the trees/ or maybe a dictation of velocities and screams, they scream at me,” he croons. “But the semi trucks have their say too/ and the motorcycles growl and fade into the night/ as the modern day enthusiast exudes with delight.”

PROFESSOR GALL 7:30pm Friday, Oct. 14. East Village Coffee Lounge, 498 Washington St., Monterey. $10 suggested donation. www.eastvillagecoffeelounge.com.