From Ozzy biting the head off of a live bat to Iggy Pop cutting himself onstage to Eddie Vedder swinging from ceiling rafters and stage-diving from camera cranes, risk, danger and spontaneity have always been integral parts of the live rock and roll experience. San Francisco’s Down and Outlaws have embraced those pieces of the experience head-on in their short tenure.
“When we play, we want things to feel unexpected, like something’s going to come crashing down at any moment,” lead singer Peter Danzig says. “We try to make that happen any way we can.”
Danzig recalls a moment during Down and Outlaws’ performance last Halloween that makes him sweat just to relive it as a memory. In the middle of the riff-heavy title track off their forthcoming record Backwards From the Dead – think The Knack meets Generation X-era Billy Idol meets The Stooges – guitarist Kyle Luck decided to climb the scaffolding on the stage, which led to rafters 10 feet above, where he somehow hung and continued playing guitar.
“He almost fell at one point,” Danzig says. “He freaked us out, and everybody in the audience, but somehow managed to pull it off.”
Danzig says that kind of rock and roll craziness adds a whole other layer of energy to their performance, and the audience feeds on it symbiotically.
When Danzig, his brother, bassist Chris, Luck and drummer Jon Carr hit the studio last December to record their full-length debut, they wanted to make an album that evokes the vibe of Down and Outlaws live.
The Foo Fighters’ Studio 606 in L.A. turned out to be the best fit.
“It’s important to the people who work [at Studio 606] to capture a band’s certain energy,” Danzig says. “We didn’t want to sound over-produced, but at the same time we wanted something that sounds really professional.”
Backwards From the Dead hits the streets some time this spring. In the meantime, Down and Outlaws make their Seaside debut Friday at The Press Club, where the ceilings are over 10 feet high.
DOWN AND OUTLAWS 9pm Friday, Jan. 16. The Press Club, 1123 Fremont Ave., Seaside. Free. 394-5656.
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