Tonight's Top Stop: Drugstore Cowboys

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"PEOPLE WONDER IF WE'RE ON DRUGS ALL THE TIME, but that goes with the business of being crazy and sporadic," said Jeffrey Scott of the Drugstore Cowboys.

He may be referring to the duo's combustive stage show, one that mixes silly and badass. Or to songs that sound like an iPod Shuffle gone berserk. Amazon's description of the Drugstore Cowboys' debut album, "Chapter 3006 of Dance Moves for the Apocalypse: If the Octamaiden Was a Diabetic Joykill Addict," reads "for fans of Depeche Mode, Blood Brothers, Jay-Z, Botch and Underoath." It should add, "all mashed up together in each song."

Scott and Philippe Andreas first collaborated in the hardcore band the Surgery. But a mutual love of eclecticists Test Icicles inspired the two to abandon genre in favor of stylistically promiscuous songs. "We don't want to sound like anything else — but everything else at the same time."

Although they're assembling a 10-piece band to reproduce their songs live, at Thursday's Red and the Black show, the Cowboys will feature the laptop-based configuration that gets them lumped in with electro acts.

"A lot of people look at us as a novelty, but it's way more than that," Scott said. "If it wasn't for D.C., then punk would never exist as it is today. But you see certain punk bands who're trying to sound like Minor Threat and just aren't progressing. NOFX will never do anything. You have to mature your scene to make it grow."

» The Red and the Black, 1212 H St. NW; 9 p.m., $8; 202-399-3201.

This post was written by Express contributor Bob Massey
Photo courtesy Lujo Records