The Lions Rampant

Detail: "The lion costumes ... hmm," says Stuart Mackenzie with a wry chuckle. "It wasn't something we planned, you know, we weren't looking for any shtick. But it ended up being fun ... plus, it's just about impossible to take yourself too seriously when you're 'that jerk in the lion suit!' We're definitely not your average jeans-and-T-shirt band -- we want to have fun, we want our audience to have fun. It's back-to-basics Rock & Roll. I think it's working, it's getting reactions. We'll see."

Meet The Lions Rampant. In addition to many other things, the trio are a raucous hairball of unfettered energy, mauling the local music scene and dragging it right back where it belongs: in your face. And for no additional charge, they'll let you pet them.

Mackenzie is wiry, strutting and preening like Mick Jagger. The drummer, Alex -- who refuses to don the mane, but concedes to wearing a plain shirt with a lion emblem -- would make a great assassin with his silent smile. A bearded guy called Paul Bunyan waves dismissively, a mock-diva when his moniker is called into question.

"If you told us we sound like the Arctic Monkeys, it's not like we'd be mad," says Mackenzie. "There's more to it, but Pop (read: hooks) is the ideal. It sets us apart from just 'fuck you' Punk." His most recent flattery, he says, came by way of a young child gyrating innocently to a Lions song. It's a testament, he says, to the value of a catchy tune, and kids are the perfect barometers to gauge that quality in music. "Yeah," Bunyan interjects, laughing, "but I wouldn't really want anyone's kids learning the words to 'Cocaine Anne.' That would be wrong.'”