When a rock song has no lyrics to paint the picture, it has to speak in broader, more physical terms. It's more about the hip shake than the heartbreak. Yet instrumental rock is so much more than splashy surf-a-go-go or the extended progressive wank. For Rochester instrumental trio The Tombstone Hands, it's all about the urge.

The Tombstone Hands' sound is rooted in Steve Litvak's primal guitar, with its savage, biting tube-amp tone, sustain, and howling feedback that threatens to run wild. But Litvak, bassist Dennis Jones, and drummer Brian Peet simply throw a saddle over it and ride.

"As our bassist, Dennis, pointed out, we're kind of doing a history of the electric guitar through the 50's and 60's," says Litvak. And along this trail you'll hear stuff from Henry Mancini to Bo Diddley to Booker T. & The M.G.'s to the granddaddy of them all, the late, great Link Wray.

Starting off in the 1950's, Wray almost single-handedly introduced loud, distorted guitar played over a primitive beat. Countless guitarists, from Jeff Beck to Pete Townsend, credit Wray for getting them to pick up the instrument. So does Litvak, who says no matter what tune The Tombstone Hands play - original or not - gets "filtered through Link Wray."

It took almost 30 years for the three Hands to get together and filter anything through anything. "Me and Dennis met almost 30 years ago," Litvak says. At that time Jones was impressed with the fact that Litvak did the Johnny Thunders - instead of The Chantays' - version of "Pipeline." But it wasn't meant to be... yet. 

"We jammed a couple of times but it wasn't what we were hoping it would be," Litvak says. "So we went our separate ways."

Jones moved to Oregon, but would return every 10 years or so, according to Litvak. "He was looking for me, but didn't know my name," Litvak says. Litvak eventually moved to Virginia Beach. He returned to Rochester in 1990, but it would be another 10 years until he launched his own futile search to put a band together.

"I hadn't been in a band in like 20 years," he says. "And about five years ago I started getting the itch to find something. So I tried getting this real cool country-punk band together, but they were all douchebags and that fell apart."

Litvak endured more douchebags, maniacs, and mental cases. "I always seem to attract them like a magnet," he says. Litvak almost packed it in.

Meanwhile, Jones and Peet were also on the prowl. "We were auditioning guitar players," Peet says. "And it just wasn't the right fit. We'd get a Gary Moore kind of guy and that wouldn't do it. Then we'd get a Joe Perry kind of guy and it was close, but we just couldn't get the right flavor."

Jones finally scored Litvak's last name, and since there were only two Litvaks in the phonebook, ran him down in spring of last year. It was almost too late.

"I was this close to hanging it up and selling all my stuff," Litvak says. "And then Dennis called me. So I hooked up with these guys and it clicked immediately. They were already doing some instrumental stuff - ‘Pipeline,' ‘Blues Theme' by Davie Allan..."

But Jones and Peet weren't necessarily looking to form an all-instrumental outfit. Litvak was. "I was hoping I could weasel that out of these guys," he says. And within five minutes they knew.

"Things took off so fast," Litvak says. "We really weren't ready to even start playing out. We were just going to get a few crappy gigs here and there and all of a sudden, boom!"

Litvak is pleasantly perplexed. "Quite frankly, I'm shocked that people like us," he says. "I guess I don't have much faith in people. And I just figured we were too weird, too different. It was killing me to get this together, and now I think it's paying off. I think when they see three old guys come out, in most peoples' minds it's, ‘Oh great, here comes another Stevie Ray Vaughan-abe.' But we come out and I've got the amp screamin' and we break into ‘Rumble,' which is how we start every show. It's just the power. I don't think we're that loud."

The band is pretty loud actually, but it's big, too. You can feel it in your thoughts. And besides, the chicks dig it.

 "I can't believe how many girls have been digging this," Litvak says. "At Bop Fest about a dozen or so women came up, ‘Oh my god, you guys are really good, I really enjoyed it. Do you have any music to sell?'"

"They wanted to have Steve's baby," Peet says.

And that's the beauty of this kind of music. It doesn't have to be played by young and cute hopefuls with stars in their eyes and the meter running. For three dudes all hovering around the mid-century mark, that's good news.

"It's worked for Lemmy," Litvak says of Motorhead frontman. "It's worked for Iggy. We reek of authenticity."

Peet agrees. "Its like Dorian Gray in reverse," he says.

The Tombstone Hands

Opening for Krypton 88

Friday, September 17

Lovin' Cup, 300 Park Point Drive

9 p.m. | free | 292-9940, reverbnation.com/thetombstonehands