Dangerville

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instrument and one delicate long leg lifted into the air, all the while slapping out a mean walking bass line without ever cracking a smile.

You'd almost laugh at the contrivance of it if she weren't so convincingly entertaining. The only distraction from my enjoyment of this Grand Rapids-based psychobilly, cowboy-punk, rhythm-happy dance band was the fear they might be living life as hard offstage as they portray themselves doing in their act.

"Danger" — the songwriter, guitarist, and front man who force-feeds the life into this band — isn't an instantly likable character, what with his angry vocals, copious tattoos, flaming guitar, and black stompin' boots. But he offers all he's got on stage, especially from those steel strings, which can tingle like Les Paul's or grind and groove like Chuck Berry's.

A hard edge permeates Dangerville's 2001 CD Necessary Evil, but so does that comic amusement. "Find Me a Woman" bounces along like a two-step beer-drinking song. "Can't Wait" is flavored by Jack Leaver's Hawaiian-style pedal steel. "Something Wicked" is sung with a nod to Elvis and toe-tapping George Thorogood lines. And other songs mix Dick Dale surfer guitar with pressurized punk in the style of Shadowy Men from a Shadowy Planet (with Johnny Ominous also on guitar).