Seattle's Nocturnal Rage: partly rap, partly rock, and wholly hot

On the South Lake Union set of Nocturnal Rage's new video, "Way Out," the first single from the band's second album, "Way Out Your Mind ... ," two big trucks filled with filming equipment are the only vehicles parked on the blocked-off street. Security agents make sure everyone has an oversize VIP badge, while under heated tents, organized chaos slowly wraps up before the next scene.

Eighty Seattle women, hand-picked from three casting calls, are going through the necessary steps to becoming rap-video material, waiting to be made up by one of the dozen busy hair-and make-up artists. Right beside me, a crew member is jumping frantically from one girl to the next with a stack of photos displaying bikini-clad derrieres. Pointing to a specific one, he shouts, "Is that you?" "I wish," she replies.

The scene is just a tiny piece of the activity surrounding tomorrow's release of "Way Out Your Mind ... ," by brothers Robert and J. Thomas Wood Jr., whose Noc on Wood record label has been trying to fill the void in Seattle's rap scene since the chart-topping '90s of Sir Mix-a-Lot.

The brothers, 25 and 28 respectively, grew up on the north end of Lake Washington. Their father, J. Thomas Wood Sr., an investment banker, says the boys were always musical.

"When Robert was 8 years old, we hired a band for my wife's 40th birthday," the senior Wood says. "Robert jumped onstage — and instructed each musician on how to play a tune he had written the previous day."

When the brothers grew up, they briefly left Seattle and gave birth to Noc on Wood in California. Robert was attending the University of Southern California on a football scholarship. Thomas, also a football player who had attended Howard University, joined him in Los Angeles. In 2001 they converted their bedroom into a small recording studio.

"We had a small closet as a recording booth," says Thomas Wood, the president of the label. "We recorded our first album with friends who came down from Seattle and we thought it was the best thing in the world. It was like boot camp for artists."

The most focused of the artists helped form the label's core of performers, Nocturnal Rage, composed of Robert Wood (known as Caligula), Fo' Feva (Anthony Dunston) and Pyro-Maniak (Martin Harris). They moved back to Seattle in 2001.

The band's first album, "Nocturnal Rage," was produced by Philly Blunt (who produced rapper E40) and rap pioneer Daddy-O of Stetsasonic. Its first single, "Miss Mary Jane," was released in the spring of 2002. The song caught the attention of the late funk legend Rick James, who sang on a remix and invited the band to shoot a video with him. It was one of James' final musical efforts before his death in August 2004.

Of working with James, Robert Wood says, "The whole time (James' handlers) told us, 'Don't talk to Rick' or 'Don't look directly at Rick,' but as soon as Rick came walking in, he was cool as hell." Wood also mentioned James "really was a trouper" because he had just had a pacemaker implanted and he was uncomfortable.

Nocturnal Rage toured twice and opened for big names like the Wu Tang Clan, Warren G and MC Lyte, and slowly their fan base grew. One song, "How Ya' Feelin', " landed the band on Comedy Central's "Premium Blend" and was featured in three videogames.

Funkdaddy (Gregory Buren), one of Seattle's top DJs, recalls that the Wood brothers were persistent in trying to get their product out. "The funny thing is that I received their CD from (someone in) New York," he says. "So even if they were not from Seattle, I would still have heard of them — so they must be doing something right."

Their style, though, was hard to categorize — more melodic and rock-oriented than hardcore hip-hop, and proudly so. "We're trying to start a whole new thing," Fo'Feva says, "and make our own sound."

Funkdaddy says he found that Nocturnal Rage's unusual approach grew on him, and he began to play their music on his Saturday-night show on X104.5 FM.

"They're definitely different. I couldn't really pigeonhole them as far as being hip-hop or being rock," says DJ B-Mello, who plays them on his "Street Sounds" show on KEXP, 90.3 FM. "I think they're a fusion of different styles."

It's rap, it's funk, it's rock; but above all, it's live: A real band with real instruments makes Nocturnal Rage's live shows stand out from the average rap gig.

In late 2003, Noc On Wood invested in a top-of-the-line studio on a nondescript street in South Lake Union. Soon, new artists were signed: Mad Row, two self-sufficient white MCs from Idaho, who managed to get over 1,500 radio-spins on their own; and Gator, aka Snaps, a Seattle MC who was featured on Nocturnal Rage's first album and video. The latest addition to the label is Atlanta's innovative Pop Du'Rilla, who recorded tracks for Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC.

"Way Out" was recorded entirely live. Guitarist Billy "Spaceman" Patterson, who has played with the biggest names in the business, including Miles Davis, James Brown and Mary J. Blige, is featured on five tracks.

It's a sound that local rap fans think will broaden the group's fan base.

"I think it's definitely gonna help to put them on the map in a national way," says DJ Scene, who mixes for Seattle's KUBE 93 FM five days a week. "I really like it. There's definitely some joints on there that I was feelin'."

Besides their sound, the group has another signature: featuring Seattle in their lyrics. The albums include songs like "Summertime in Seattle," "Emerald City" and others that mention Seattle landmarks.

"People don't know much about Seattle, except that it rains a lot," says Pyro-Maniak. "When I heard 2Pac's 'California Love,' " it tripped me out. It made me want to go there. We're hoping to do the same thing for Seattle and let people know how it really is out here."

Seattle's legendary Sir Mix agrees.

"If instead of 'Posse on Broadway,' I had made 'Posse on Yesler,' it wouldn't have worked," he says. "Everyone can relate to Broadway, since all cities have one. You can talk about Seattle, but you need to make sure you approach it the right way. People at Noc on Wood are getting it, and have learned a lot over the years."

But while Caligula (Robert Wood) agrees, he stresses that making it musically in Seattle isn't easy.

"Seattle is really hard to break into," he says. "This city has very high standards. People like 50 Cent come here and get booed off the stage [in part because he was two hours late] and he has to cancel his two shows. Usher comes to a 14,000 people venue and only 2,000 show up. If you can make it in Seattle, the rest of the country is a piece of cake."

The brothers are now working with the respected Redeye Distribution, which was awarded distributor of the year (small division) four years in a row by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers. They've also hired James Throckmorton, who produced TV campaigns for Outkast, Usher and the Neptunes, to produce two promotional spots to air on major music channels and Comedy Central. Says Pyro-Maniak: "There's no stoppin' this train."

Kriss Chaumont is a news artist at The Seattle Times: kchaumont@seattletimes.com