It could be said that rock 'n' roll's structure flies in the face of its philosophy. For all the brazen bravado, recklessness, and chaos it preaches, there's nothing more civilized than its rudimentary 4/4 pulse. In many cases rock 'n' roll is a paper tiger.

Nod plays true rock 'n' roll. The Rochester band -- Scrappy Joe Sorriero (guitar, vocal), Tim Poland (bass), Brian Shafer (drums), and recent addition Chris Schepp (organ) -- has been doing it for 18 years. And with its casual, unpretentious demeanor, and a willingness to fly blind, Nod is more rock 'n' roll than a barrel full of Lemmys.

Nod music is filled with raw, ragged emotion that either thinly veils (or completely buries) the tune in its sonic insanity. Maybe Nod is searching for those precious few un-played notes. Maybe it's on a quest for new ones. And it's on this search that often the unwilling or unaware may be reduced to collateral damage as they dismiss the surface noise. It's an acquired taste.

Nod has a just completed a new CD -- its sixth -- "Tree, Stuff, and Lightning."

I sat down with the band in its rehearsal space and we all tried to describe what the band does. The Nod paradigm is a perplexing one. Hell, even the band has a tough time pinning it down. Suffice it to say, this is a unique band that rides the fringe on the fringe of the fringe. Nod has to be experienced. Nod has to be heard. Nod doesn't necessarily need to be figured out. Neither does rock 'n' roll.

CITY: Explain Nod to the novice.

Sorriero: Nod is rooted in proto-punk 70's music and, I dunno, hopefully a good time, probably with some dancing, maybe. But sometimes the music doesn't lend itself to that.

I've got an idea. What isn't Nod? What don't you do?

Sorriero: Ummm [long pause]...maybe that's' not a such a good idea. I think it's better to go with what we do.

Poland: I like the question though.

Sorriero: When I try not to do something, I always wind up doing it. That's why I didn't like that question.

What was the band's mission statement when it began?

Poland: Hang on for dear life.

Sorriero: I think we all thought we were doing something new or slightly different by just doing original songs

Was what you were doing reactionary?

Sorriero: Yeah, somewhat. In a fun way. We made a conscious effort in the beginning to be different. It was liberating.

Did the bands you were trying to be different from actually make Nod necessary?

Sorriero: I don't know.

OK try this: What did Nod have that wasn't being offered?

Sorriero: Just a lack of freedom. Sometimes you'd see music and wonder "Why doesn't this person just explode in some manner now?" Or "Why isn't there one part that's just off-kilter or wacky before coming back to the song?"

But rock 'n' roll is supposedly very free.

Sorriero: Right, but a lot of things don't sound like Little Richard... not many people sound like the early rock 'n' rollers.

But "Long Tall Sally" is pretty structured compared to anything by Nod.

Shafer: But at the time it was pretty crazy.

So music's normalcy or weirdness is contextual?

Shafer: Yeah, and the trick is trying to stay on the front of that wave.

That was easy when you started, but it has probably gotten harder to be different as more and more abstract and weird gets introduced. Don't you think the bands that closed the gap between Nod and normal were actually ushered in by you?

Sorriero: Yeah, maybe. But I think a lot of other people were doing similar stuff. I think it was always there. And then the mainstream picked up on it for a while.

Did this mainstream embrace change the way you viewed or approached your music?

Sorriero: No. I think we just do what's fun to do. I mean, we've got a song now that sounds like a 70's soft rock hit.

Has anything ever come together where it doesn't work or you don't pursue it?

Sorriero: Oh yeah, that happens all the time.

That's was kind of my question from before about what wont you do.

Sorriero: I just have a feeling for something.

And you let a soft rock song fly?

Sorriero: I think we do draw on some influences that we think a lot of people may have not heard.

Because nobody ever thought to do it or they just didn't do it right?

Sorriero: I think we're just looking for something that moves everyone.

Poland: The songs we drop is because they don't have a groove or something.

Shafer: I think we're conscious without being self-conscious. It's not like we say we have to do this because it sounds different from everyone. We think together now in a way. There's so much music between all of us I think that if one of us is playing Bootsie Collins and the other one's playing like Steve Gadd and the other one's playing like Captain Beefheart, then that's what happens in that song.

Do you think you guys are misunderstood?

Poland: Somewhat, probably.

Shafer: We're not afraid to say this doesn't make any sense.

Sorriero: I think there was a period where we were just playing just really noisy.

Poland: Weird tunings...

Sorriero: They were deliberate off-tunings. They were tunings I would come up with. Like one string wouldn't be a half step off, it'd be half of a half step off just so it would warble a little bit.

Eighteen years and six albums later, how is nascent Nod different from vintage Nod?

Poland: Actually, not a whole lot.

How does Nod fit in the whole scheme of popular music now?

Sorriero: I don't think our sound is that weird anymore. I really have no clue where things are going, basically. There was a point where I thought the guitar was going to die. When rap was coming around I was like "Nobody's going to be playing guitars in five years."

Was that good or bad?

Sorriero: I thought it was great. I was going to be the keeper of the flame. 

Nod, Ian Downey is Famous, and Crush the Junta

Monty's Krown, 875 Monroe Ave

Friday, February 8

9 p.m. | $3 | 271-7050