Q&A: Bad Wizard

Brown describes his own band as "party rock," and tells me their formula. "We write songs about having sex and getting drunk and things like that. We don't really try to tackle any serious content."

On stage, Brown jumps around and hollers, much like Zen Guerrilla's Marcus Durant. Both have an MC5 electricity and flaunt unruly, curly bedhead do's. It's the sexy-ugly look the French call jolie laide.

Bad Wizard may not be beauteous, but they sure know how to write some good tunes. "We wrote 'Champagne Boogie' because we needed a song we could do the champagne toast to, to add to the live shows, ya know?" Brown explains. "You know, you pop the top onstage, the champagne comes out, you hand out cups and give the people up front some champagne. I think they dig it. Champagne is just fun."

Brown typically performs tipsy if not drunk. And sometimes he takes a dip of tobacco while he's up there, along with constantly tugging at his shirt and pants. It's safe to wager that before the show is over his shoes won't be on his feet and his belt will be undone. He admits he's not conscious of his stage antics and doesn't practice these moves at home, except once for a "dry run." I assure him I wasn't making fun of his stage presence or insinuating anything, just questioning his ability to sing while dipping. He laughs. "If you call what I do singing."

Bad Wizard is touring to support their second album, Sophisticated Mouth, which comes out this week on Tee Pee Records. The 30-minute full-length resembles their debut release, Free and Easy, in that they continue to write "high-energy rock music." Reviewers compared Free and Easy to Motörhead and AC/DC.

"These people have only seen us live, no one's actually listened to the record," Brown counters. "We definitely do some aping of AC/DC, but you know it's just rock music and we play blues riffs. We just try to jam a little more and try a little more, like Blue Cheer and MC5 did. It's difficult to authentically play r&b."

Of the new album, Brown says that "It's a little more r&b and the songs are more danceable." Maybe danceable in the headbanging kind of way, with beer in hand and fist in the air, I reply. "Not necessarily," Brown argues. "Listen to 'Loosen Up.' It definitely has some r&b riffs. We were thinking of the Isley Brothers and Prince when we were making this record."

I suspect an underlying theme to song titles like "Love Machine," "Free and Easy," "Keep High/Stay Low" and "Champagne Boogie." After some discussion pertaining to "Soft, Warm and Wet," Brown admits he comes up with the titles before the music is written. The chorus to "Soft, Warm and Wet" goes: "C'mon everybody/it's a rock 'n' roll party/our love tore down the mountain/and stole the heat from the fiery place/between me and you/we turn up the heat on the stew."

Asked about the title Sophisticated Mouth, Brown laughs and says he "should make up something because it's really about blowjobs." Are we talking firsthand experience, or does Sophisticated Mouth refer to what happens in the van with your other bandmates? "We definitely don't share," he insists. Not even when they get lonely? "No! Not even if we get lonely... Being on the road is not like jail, we do get to see some ladies. I'm 30 years old and I've never had a good one?and not from lack of tries or experience?until this past year I started getting really good ones. So that's what the title is all about, really great blowjobs."

I ask what to expect at the CMJ Tee Pee showcase at CBGB this week.

"We're gonna bring out the nitrous oxide since we're playing with some of my favorite bands?the Cherry Valence, All Night and Soft Canyon. I think that whole night is gonna be fantastic," Brown predicts.

Is the nitrous just for the band, or the audience or both? "It's for both, but usually the band hits it only before and after we play, because it's kind of tough to play on that stuff... I have a friend who joins us onstage to fill up the balloons for fans to enjoy. It's actually pretty crazy. People enjoy the nitrous a lot more than I expected."

Bad Wizard plays Fri., Nov. 1, at CBGB, 315 Bowery (Bleecker St.), 982-4052.