The New Duncan Imperials, November 8

Saturday, November 8, 7:30 p.m.

Rascals Live, 1414 15th Street, East Moline IL

Hailed by First-Avenue.com as a band that combines "the explosive elements of white-trash culture, Dada art, and Chuck Berry," the touring artists of the New Duncan Imperials bring their high-energy show to Moline's Rascals Live on November 8, the outfit composed, since the 1980s, of Pigtail on guitar, Skipper on bass, and Goodtime on drums.

Launched as the humorous alter ego to Chicago’s more serious (and now defunct) Service, the pseudonymous New Duncan Imperials cobble together a woolly mixture of country rock, Midwest power pop, and similarly energetic guitar vehicles. As stated at their First-Avenue.com biography provided by Pravda Records, "The band startled the club scene with its overpowering live show and reckless disregard for boundaries, confronting unsuspecting crowds with a blizzard of gloriously heavy riffage and free-association lyrics that ran the course from the Brady Bunch to Friedrich Nietzsche. Competing with the music was a twisted stage show bristling with irrational contests, alarming free giveaways, and the most distinctive look of any band within miles. In the years since their inception, bands and trends have come and gone, but the New Duncan Imperials have remained an entertainment juggernaut."

At NewDuncanImperials.com, the band introduces themselves personally.

Pigtail: "What could be more ridiculous than a guitar solo? A fancy, twiddly, spot-lit guitar solo from a wealthy and famous rock god? A long one, too – so long the other dudes leave the stage for a smoke backstage. A guitar solo that, I don't know, also includes a theremin, or a violin bow, or another guitar you play with your foot, or all three. Glorious! I want in on it! So without thinking it through too much we combine the most blockheaded, and therefore most important, rock riff ever – the intro to 'Smoke on the Water' – with a feat no rock cretin has ever tried: we'll see your theremin and raise you an oven mitt. Can it be done? Can I play the riff with, as Skipper announces, 'a fully functional oven mitt' on my left hand? I don't know. But I do know this: It Don't Matter."

Skipper: "What could be more ridiculous than a bass solo? It sums up everything stupid and self-important about rock bands. So let's have a bass solo! From Skipper, who literally can't play bass! Let's have him just stand there on stage and hit one or two spastic notes, lots of dead air, that ever-present gnarly hum of corroded wires, and here's the thing – let's act like it's awesome. Because compared to any other rock and roll bass solo ever played by anyone, it is. All bass solos are stupid, and Skipper's is no more or less stupid than the most artistic, studied, accomplished, serious bass solo by any other rock band in this or any other century. We know it, and soon the crowds know it. It's funny because it's true."

Goodtime: "What could be more ridiculous than a drum solo? Pretty much nothing. We absolutely love Led Zeppelin, but our love encompasses their stupidity, so we fully appreciate John Bonham playing a drum solo with his hands. So let's get GT up there, and give him not drums but our heads, our mammoth-cave-helmet-wearing heads, to bang on. Listen to the sharp rat-a-tat of wood on safety plastic! It cuts through the smoky club, impossible to ignore. And now that we have your attention, you can't miss GT's true virtuosity – he's playing the other dudes' heads, good bit, pretty funny, but check it – he's f---ing wailing! Seriously."

The New Duncan Imperials headline their Moline engagement on November with an acoustic set by Robbie Bahr and J.J. Smith, and admission to the 7:30 p.m. concert is $15-20, with a reserved table for four and four tickets available for $115.50. For more information and tickets, visit Facebook.com/RascalsLive.