Boneyard is a walking rock 'n' roll contradiction. Bands have been known to flush tons of money and spend too much time in the studio. Boneyard's new CD, "Voodoo Highway," was recorded in two days for $300. The band dials it in heavy, incorporating elements of metal, blues, and even Southern rock. Yet none of these sonic injections trample the others.

Boneyard - JJ Lang, guitar/vocals; Kevin Rothbeind, bass; Brian Donnelly, drums; and Mick Lee, guitar/vocals - is a new band that isn't really a new band. Though debuting on New Year's Eve 2008, Boneyard has been brewing in singer/guitarist Lang's head for years. He just got a little waylaid.

"In '94 I came up with the idea for the sound that is similar to what we're doing now," Lang says. "That harder, raw, bluesy-edged music; just drop D and chunk. And then that Motley Crue album came out without Vince Neil on it - just bluesy and heavy and raw - and I was like, That's what I want to do! Not be afraid to play a Tele, not be afraid to have a little acoustic in there."

Lang put a band together to pursue that sound, but it inadvertently wound up taking a detour away from his vision. He blames the name.

"We settled on the name rachelsDEAD," he says. "And with that name you fall into this darker thing. I grew up on KISS and I liked the Rob Zombie thing, the image and the theatrics and whatnot."

Even heavy bands have a fragile dynamic; tweak one little ingredient and it becomes something else entirely. "Like when you get certain drummers that play faster and heavier and it turns into a metal band," says Lang.

In this case, it was the imagery the name conjured. So Lang woke up in a goth band. But he liked the music and the musicians he was playing with.

"It turned into something really exciting and I thought, ‘Wow this is better than what I can do,"' he says. So he stuck with it.

RachelsDEAD was doing songs that have since morphed into Boneyard tunes. There was just more of a theatrical emphasis. Lang dove in head first; others did not

"I always loved the dark, theatrical stage show," he says. "But I really couldn't get everybody on the same page. I'd be wearing the goth thing and I'd have somebody wearing their soccer shorts."

Today Boneyard is on the same page for sure. It's not nearly as theatrical, but it is cohesive. And there aren't any soccer shorts on stage. In fact, when pressed to compare show to talent, Lang errs on the side of the show.

"We're not at the level where we're on the radio," he says. "Most people are coming to the show. I think the show's more important."

In-depth analysis aside, Boneyard is just a good ol' hard rock band, drawing from the greasy well of past generations and still - like those before it - trying to cut off a piece to call its own. The band's music may be rooted in classic rock, well worn, and played before in varying degrees, but it's catchy and well written. It rocks with a certain unforgiving tone; it will not be denied. This comes from the band's simple treatment and rudimentary approach. Remember; two days, $300 bucks.

You have to wonder, how can this be? Are most bands that shell out thousands of dollars on a disc made up of complete idiots? Is Boneyard that genius?

"I just think some people aren't thinking clearly," Lang says. "I don't think we're that good, I think that we're just raw. We just wanna go out there and be a simple and raw band. We do a couple takes and we're like, ‘That was it, we nailed it.'"

Not bad for a new band that isn't new.

"This will be my 20th year of actually being in a band," says Lang. Was it worth the wait? "It is now, because I'm pumped."

Boneyard

CD release party w/Metal Works, Noah's Reign

The Jukebox, 5435 W Ridge Rd

Friday, May 22

9:30 p.m. | $5-$7 | 352-4505

myspace.com/boneyardtheband