Bandit Teeth bites back after a seven-year absence

“Porn it Up” by Bandit Teeth, from Demos (self-released):

Brad Shanks has been home for a month. His warm bed and his record collection have been his closest friends since he came off the road. Four weeks of arduous touring can make even the most dedicated rocker into a wussy homebody.

“I’ve just been sitting in my room eating peanut butter and looking at my dream catcher,” says Shanks, who keeps a mighty straight face even when he might be joking.

“I don’t even want to go to shows,” he adds. “I literally laid down in my bed, and I was like, ‘I don’t want to leave you for a long time.'”

Shanks and drummer Zach Campbell have been busily touring in support of Blood on the Wall’s new album, Liferz. Now that they’re back in Lawrence, the two musicians are focusing on their punk-infused garage band, Bandit Teeth — or they will, just as soon as they can muster the strength.

“We haven’t practiced in two months,” Shanks says. “We have a show in, like, three days. We need to practice right now.”

Bandit Teeth’s third member, Charley Downey, isn’t stressing about the situation. He used his free time to beat the video-game version of The Warriors.

“The worst thing that could ever happen with this band is if it ever felt like work or became a source of tension,” Downey says.

Shanks seconds that notion. “The more serious you get about stuff, the more heartache,” he says. “I just want to have as much fun as possible with these dudes and play killer shows at the Replay.”

Nearly a decade after Bandit Teeth formed, the group is enjoying its most productive streak yet. The last time the band was spending this much time not practicing, Shanks was living in a rent-free house, getting wasted every night and selling CDs to buy dinner.

“It was total loserdom,” he says. “Some people would say it was living the dream.”

Bandit Teeth’s proudest accomplishment during its members’ college years was submitting a seven-song CD-R to the local college radio station and getting more spins than the new Stereolab album. Then there was that on-campus performance where Shanks sang “Drop Out of School” to a crowd of field-tripping 6-year-olds. As they paraded past, holding hands, Shanks sheepishly sang: Drop out of school/Drop out of school/Make love to me.

“I was pointing at them and yelling, ‘But not you guys!'” Shanks recalls.

That first incarnation of Bandit Teeth wrote about 20 songs and played a bunch of shows but never got around to recording an album. A wrecked car and a $2,000 insurance payout gave Shanks the kick in the ass he needed to move to New York City. He moved in with his sister Courtney and started Blood on the Wall with her and drummer Miggy Littleton. That group signed to the Social Registry label and released two albums of noisy indie rock before Shanks got sick of the big-city grind and moved back to Lawrence.

By that time, it had been seven years since Shanks and Downey last jammed. One of the first new recordings they made was an a cappella rendition of Hole’s “Doll Parts.”

“For some reason, I just got way into that song,” Shanks says. “At first I thought it was funny. Then I started liking it. I figured if I was ever at a campfire and people were passing a guitar around, I could just bust it out.”

Inspired by the renewed partnership, Shanks sought out a drummer and connected with Campbell. The formula clicked: Each of the three members began contributing songs, and Bandit Teeth returned as an instrument-switching power trio.

Campbell describes the new incarnation of the band as a “tour de force of nonstop party jams.” Shanks prefers the phrase “three dudes with nothing better to do.”

“We’re just three guys trying to show our inner selves to each other,” Shanks says.

“Brad has occasionally tried to show me his outer self,” Downey adds, “which I’ve refused at every turn.”

The group hopes to harness that tension when it hits the studio this summer to record an actual Bandit Teeth record (tentatively titled Sharon Is Karen). Three songs are in the can for an upcoming 7-inch, and Social Registry owner Rich Zerbo has expressed interest in a full-length.

“He was a bottle of scotch into the night, but I’m going to hold him to it,” Campbell says. “Too bad I didn’t just have a record deal in my back pocket.”

In the meantime, the three gents of Bandit Teeth will continue to get rowdy. Shanks tossed a 100-pound bass amp on Campbell’s lap for the grand finale of one recent show.

“I just felt it,” Shanks explains.

“It hurt,” Campbell says. “But I thought it was fucking hilarious.”

Now go practice.