Monster Truck Driver: Into Big Rigs, Hard-Driving Sound

Who they are: Andy Cole, drums. Painter. Dave Barnes, guitar. Unemployed. Jay Bradley, guitar. Community Services for the Blind. Toby Williams, bass. Student.

What they really drive: Williams: A Mazda pickup. "People hear I'm in Monster Truck Driver and they look at my truck and laugh." Bradley: "I don't drive now, but I used to drive a Gremlin and a Hornet." Barnes: Abandoned his Dodge Colt in Buffalo, Wyo. Cole: "My car got towed away. . . . It was a Volkswagen Dasher."

Band history: Bradley was tossing around band names with some coworkers, the name Monster Truck Driver stuck out and the band evolved around it. "Everything came from the name," said Bradley. "I had two names. One was going to be I Forget, and the other was Monster Truck Driver."

MTD recorded "All Greasy and Grimy" a year ago on Carving Knife Records, after playing together for about a month. They consider the Storeroom Tavern their home base. This fall, MTD will release a 7-inch record - like their last, a real record, available only on vinyl. Cole: "We started out making fun of monster truck shows, but now we're into them." Williams: "It's a pretty serious sport. It's like wrestling." Bradley: "A couple of people I talked to, they follow them everywhere - they go from show to show." Barnes, quoting the lyrics to the band's eponymous anthem: "Surly GIs and drooling rednecks by the thousands." How they describe their music: Williams: "I think we're a good band to see in a bar if you're drinking. It's good drinking music." Bradley: "If you like to drink beer, you'll like it." Williams: "We were getting classified as grunge, but we don't consider ourselves grunge."

More garage than grunge, MTD's songs include "Tilt-A-Whirl Girl" and such provocatively titled songs at "Art Fag" (about pretension, not homosexuality) and "Pedophile."

Their musical goals: Williams: "I don't think we're going to be huge or anything. We're not going to be a big-time, mainstream band. But I don't know - we're having fun doing what we're doing." Bradley: "I don't care if 1,000 or 10,000 people buy (our records)."

Ideal first dates: Cole: "Taking Tiffany to the monster truck show, getting her drunk on a half-rack of Schmidts first. If she's not available, Debbie Gibson can go." Bradley: "I'd have to say just plain-old take her to the Storeroom and get drunk."

What makes a good show: Williams: "A good crowd that appreciates and likes you - that always makes a good show." Cole: "If they knock us over, that's a good sign." Barnes: "Or if they throw beer on us." Bradley: "Anything that's not sharp, that's all right."

Where to hear them: If you like what you hear on InfoLine, you can see MTD, in all its grimy glory, at the Storeroom Tavern tomorrow. MTD also plays the Off Ramp Wednesday.

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For a sound check of Monster Truck Driver, call InfoLine, a telephone information service at The Seattle Times free in the Greater Seattle area. From any touch-tone phone, call 464-2000 and enter category BAND (2263).