The Hackensaw Boys play real, fast bluegrass to a new generation.

On Aug. 10, 2002, rock fans were spread all over UC Berkeley’s Greek Theatre waiting for the next act to take the stage. Across the Bay, in the distance, the tall buildings of San Francisco looked like jagged crystals and the very distant Golden Gate Bridge looked like a giant red harp laid on its side.

Mexican electro pop outfit Kinky had just finished their set, and Modest Mouse had plowed through songs from their album The Moon & Antarctica. The crowd of indie rockers and students were milling around killing time until the next act, vintage hip-hop group De La Soul, took the stage. At this time, while equipment was being moved around in the background, eight slightly scruffy musicians gathered around a trio of microphones holding what might appear to this young crowd as antique instruments—things like banjos and fiddles. A few seconds later, the band was playing originals like “Nashville,” old-timey bluegrass-sounding acoustic songs with traditional elements such as a sawing fiddle and call-and-response vocals, delivered at a speed that could rival most hardcore punk rock bands. Even icy cool hipsters were forced to tap their toes, clap their hands or do a little jig.

So how did a Virginia-based bluegrass band, whose members have backwoods nicknames like Pee Paw and Shiner, come to play on a tour with alt-rock legends like the Flaming Lips and Cake?

Well folks, kick back, grab a bottle of moonshine and I’ll tell you the story of the Hackensaw Boys, with a little help from the band’s mandolin player Mahlon, aka Robert Bullington, who spoke to the Weekly while barreling across country in a tour van.

The Hackensaws started playing their high-energy music on the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, back in 1999. As Virginia headed into winter, Mahlon says, the band moved inside for weekly gigs at a local diner. In 2000, the band’s 12 members got together to record a CD, Get Some, in a friend’s home.

At that time, the Hackensaws sounded like a bulleting train that could head off the tracks at any time. The band also proved itself to be adept songwriters.

A year later, word about the band had spread well past Virginia’s state line. The band did a national tour (all 12 members packed into a 1964 GMC Motor Coach dubbed “Dirty Bird”) and recorded another superb CD with a strong dose of youthful exuberance, titled Keep It Simple. At that time, opportunity reared its head when a friend who was supposed to open for Cake at a venue in Virginia had to cancel, and recommended the Charlottesville band.

Following the show, Cake invited the Hackensaws to open for them on a tour of the Southeast, and a year later, the band was asked to be a part of Cake’s Unlimited Sunshine Tour. Between traveling across the country and playing three short sets in between the festival’s big acts, Mahon says, the Hackensaws bonded with the members of Cake, Kinky and Modest Mouse. (Indeed, former Hackensaw fiddle player Tom Peloso is now a member of Modest Mouse.)

This summer, the band, now whittled down to six players, released its third studio album, Love What You Do. The CD has a higher ballad-to-foot-stomper ratio, but beautiful road songs like “Sun’s Work Undone” and “Alabama Shamrock” are among the best things that the Hackensaws have done.

After a recent set of dates opening for Trey Anastasio and a feature on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, these boys are making their mark far outside bluegrass music’s typical circles.

THE HACKENSAW BOYS PLAY MONTEREY LIVE, 414 ALVARADO ST., MONTEREY, SUNDAY AT 7:30PM. $10/ADVANCE; $12/AT THE DOOR. 375-5483.