Harvey Danger: Loud Boys Playing Lots Of Loud Music

Who is Harvey Danger:

Aaron Huffman, 22, bass guitar. Works in Elliott Bay Cafe. Jeff J. Lin, 23, guitarist. Editor of the International Examiner, a local Asian community newspaper. Sean Nelson, 21, singer. A "concessionaire extraordinaire" at the Varsity Theatre. Evan Sult, 20, drummer. Works at Metro Cinemas.

Style of music:

Noise rock, owing to both Velvet Underground and Smashing Pumpkins, incorporating jazzy drumming and either sung lyrics or spoken monologues.

One-word description of style: Loud. Lin: "I want people to refer to me as "that loud boy.' " Nelson: "Our strategy is to play loud and hope people hear."

How the band members met:

All of them worked at the University of Washington Daily. Sult and Nelson joined in November '93 after several early incarnations of the band fizzled out. They knew they had something when they did a 15-minute version of the Velvet Underground's "What Goes On."

Huffman: "We started in the fall of '92 in our house, and originally, anyone who wanted to be in the band was in. We had a tambourine player, people reading prose, but none of that lasted beyond the first two parties we played."

Lin: "We used to practice at this lecture hall in the Communications Building. It was a really nice amphitheater, and we were careful and wouldn't start until 1 a.m. But then some friends of ours practiced at 7:30 on a Friday night, and KUOW-FM called the police. Our friends were inadvertently played on the air." Sult: "When we joined I didn't have a drum set. I spent the first three months in the band kneeling, playing a snare drum, cymbal and paint can."

What were their influences?

Huffman: "The earliest music I remember, other than my parents' folk albums, was my brother turning me on to The Cure when I was 10." Sean: "Lyrically, I steal from Lou Reed and a lot of movies." Lin: "My early influences were Weird Al Yankovich and Spike Jones novelty songs. My interest in noise rock is probably rebellion against my childhood, where I was classically trained on the piano from age 4 and played violin in various symphonies. The type of stuff where you play really precisely and get overpowered by one trumpet or a bassoon. The first time I heard Nirvana, it was a real visceral experience for me."

Most daunting live experience:

Nelson: "Our Off Ramp show was kind of a minor debacle." Sult: "We were faced with new things, like stage monitors." Nelson: "Our exchange with the sound people went something like this. `What do you want on your monitors?' Silence. `What?' No one had ever asked us that before. We just said. `Oh, a little bit of everything.' " The band that lives together stays together, but builds grudges that could last a lifetime: Nelson: "We all live together, and it's a nightmare." Jeff: "Because some people won't do their dishes." Sult: "Sean with his month-long dish duty." Huffman: "Evan is always throwing what's left of his hair into our food as a practical joke." Sult: "I generally shave over the Ramen."

Where to hear Harvey Danger:

Aug. 31: 10 p.m.; Ditto Tavern, 2303 Fifth Ave., 441-3303 Sept. 1: 10 p.m.; Lake Union Pub, 711 Fairview Ave. N.; 343-0457 The band plans to put out a 7-inch single later this month, of "Anna Said" and the B-side: "Frank Black."