Friday night: The band takes the stage casting aside empty bottles of Boone's Farm wine. They gear up their instruments and proceed to rock the garage to the sounds of Dave Matthews band. Of course, the version of "The Space Between" the group performs sounds more like Dave Matthews playing at Ozzfest after dropping an entire sheet of acid and snorting a couple king sized pixie sticks. The band: The Kinky Boot Beasts, the self-proclaimed class clowns of the campus music scene.

The band, composed of junior guitarist Dave Lodewyck and senior guitarist Joe Andrukaitis, is one of the most talked about bands on campus. Of course, that might be more a facet of the group's just-escaped-from-an-institution-for-the-criminally-insane appeal than their musical talent, but who needs talent to be a rock star?

The Kinky Boot Beasts formed the day after NAZZ, Notre Dame's annual battle of bands, in 2001. Fellow Fisher Hall resident and acoustic crooner Phil Wittliff was scheduled to play at an acoustic festival called ND at Nite, but couldn't make the event and asked then freshman Lodewyck to fill in.

Lodewyck teamed up with Andrukaitis and the pair hastily drew up a set list and formed a band. They toyed with various names such as Phil Laytio, in homage to their benefactor, and finally settled on The Kinky Boot Beasts.

Garbed in a wig once used to portray Jesus in a Department of Film, Television and Theatre mainstage show and king cobra hats, the Kinky Boot Beasts took the stage singing Johnny Cash songs and as many '80s power ballads as they could remember attempting to make as big of a mockery of the event as they could.

After their iconoclastic set, the pair rushed to gather their gear and make a cunning getaway disbanding the one-hit wonder Boot Beasts, but fortune changed that.

"At the end of the whole thing one of the girls who was responsible for setting the whole thing up ran up to us and we thought, `Oh no, here it comes. We're about to get an earful.' And she was clearly worked up, so we we're expecting her to be made for making a mockery of her event, whereas she said `that was so funny,'" Lodewyck said.

"We really thought it was just going to be a one time thing," Andrukaitis said. And so the Kinky Boot Beasts were born.

Despite the fact that the Boot Beasts almost never practice, the group still manages to land an occasional gig. The band even attends those gigs when they can remember and/or are sober enough to find the correct address.

"It really hasn't required any practice, although perhaps it should have. I find that being well practiced and together as a band is more of a liability for the Boot Beasts," Lodewyck said.

The Boot Beasts describe their sound as one of creativity. And, when pressed, admit that they hope to emulate the sound of their idols Tenacious D lead by actor/comedian/musician/psychopath Jack Black. After all, as Lodewyck points out, they're both fat guys on acoustic guitars singing filthy songs.

"In all fairness, we suck. But we're funny and that's what we're going for," Lodewyck said.

The Boot Beasts don't claim to be the best band around (or even competent to have driver's licenses) but they do hope that the future of campus music will be much brighter than it is now. Lodewyck is encouraged by the number of musically inclined freshmen he has met this year and encourages them to follow in his footsteps of not sleeping on Tuesday nights and concocting interesting monikers.

Band names is, in fact, one of Lodewyck's fetishes. Since he began playing guitar seven and a half years ago. Lodewyck has been in bands named Horatio's Orgasm, Six Inches Between Us, The Vancouver Porn Enseble, and The Salvation Airforce, to name a few.

"For a band like the Boot Beast, the name matters as much as the music, but it will never be as important as our good looks," Lodewyck said.

Though Lodewyck and Andrukaitis pride themselves on their lack of practice, both are, in fact, talented musicians. It's their taste that may have some of their audience raising eyebrows.

For example, at their gig on last Friday night (to which they "lost" their set list for), The Kinky Boot Beasts included a cover of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prision Blues," a three second long piece called "A List of Things I Wouldn't Do To Have Sex With Anna Kournikova," and a medley of pop songs played to the same four chords.

"Our style is atotal bastardization of all popular music," Andrukaitis said.

With Andrukaitis' impeding departure at graduation Lodewyck plans to move onto more serious endeavors such as a venture playing trombone in a third-wave ska band tentatively named Shüger in the Raw with former Skammunists guitarist Pete Balogh. Though Andrukaitis said that he would definatly return for some reunion shows.

But the Boot Beasts, serious or not, do it for the fans. When asked if the pair got had lot of groupies, Lodewyck replied, "Sadly."

Editor's Note: This article is the first in a series featuring campus bands. Any bands that are from the Notre Dame, Saint Mary's or Holy Cross campuses that wish to have their group featured in the Scene section should send an e-mail to scene@nd.edu. No off campus bands, please.

Contact C. Spencer Beggs at beggs.3@nd.edu

• Getting freaky