On the cover of the Death Ships' Seeds of Devastation, a resplendent Midwestern farm scene - complete with stalks of wheat, a dragonfly, and a red barn - sets the tone. But on the inside panel, as the barn burns down behind him, a boy in a blue winter coat pokes a white paper boat with a stick.

The band's name and multiple visual and verbal contradictions create an eerie haze around Death Ships' debut CD, but the songs are anything but dark. With its roller-rink keyboard, start-stop beat, tambourine, and hand-claps, "Symmetrical Smiles" is a hip-swiveling rocker. The song is fleshed out by a twangy guitar and Death Ships singer Dan Maloney's clear, bright voice. Similar to bands such as Essex Green, Ladybug Transistor, and Beulah, Iowa City's Death Ships honor the tradition of '60s icons the Kinks and the Zombies.

When Michael Burks was 12, he wrote a letter to his idol B.B. King, "telling him that, hopefully, one day I could meet him and show him I could play like him," he said in a recent interview.

That wish actually came true when Michael was 39. In 1996, King celebrated his 71st birthday at a show in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Michael played alongside the blues icon. "All my life I'd been loving this man, admiring this man!" he said. It was a defining moment, and just the start of well-deserved recognition for Michael's lifelong immersion in the blues.

As a percussionist with the world-renowned Alloy Orchestra - described by Roger Ebert as "the best in the world at accompanying silent films" - Ken Winokur reveals that the group doesn't have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on musical upkeep. A simple trek to the kitchen or garage will suffice.

"Our standard rack includes horseshoes, plumbing pipes, truck springs, that sort of thing," Winokur says. "Pots and pans, hubcaps, scraps of metal ... our most talked-about instrument, perhaps, is a bed pan. If it makes noise, we'll play it."

To be blunt about it, there's no way people in the Quad Cities have any reason to know of the Los Angeles-based rock band Also, performing Sunday at the Redstone Room in downtown Davenport.

Unless you listen to L.A.'s KCRW - the West Coast's premier public-radio station - it's highly unlikely you've ever heard of Also beyond promotion for the group's Quad Cities show.

The trio is a young and independent band, meaning they have no name recognition, no label, no touring support, and no airplay outside of their own market. The closest the band has been to Iowa - hell, the Midwest - was "the very nearby, adjacent city of Tempe, Arizona," said singer, guitarist, and lyricist Drew Conrad. When they aren't playing within an eight-hour drive of their home base, they go to Europe, where audiences are more open to ... well, bands they've never heard of.