Like A Bad Memory Updated And Set To Music It’s Fatty Lumpkin

Remember that wart-ridden bully in elementary school who used to make a daily routine of stalking you, beating you up and stealing your lunch money, thus, permanently scarring you and leading you to seek many years of intensive and expensive counseling?

Well, Fatty Lumpkin is the bully, sort of. Actually, Fatty Lumpkin is a band. But the five-piece thrash/ noise outfit, which plays Ichabod’s North tonight, plays a sonically bruising, often unruly sound, which can make the audience feel like it’s been pounded.

The band features two irrational and unpredictable vocalists, Brian Monger and Sean Beightol. The duo inflicts their wrath on their mikes, themselves and those unfortunate souls at the front of the stage.

Together, the vocalists and the rest of the band - drummer Dave Kelley, bassist Josh DeVaney and guitarist Shane Huggar - are a fearsome force on stage.

And though the band writes songs with some sort of structure to them, rarely do they stick to the blueprints during live shows. A lot of spontaneity can be attributed Monger and Beightol.

“Spontaneous is one thing, but it’s also very misdirected,” said Kelley. “It’s highly unpredictable. You never know what they’re (Monger and Beightol) going to say and do.”

As chaotic as it seems, the band does more than an adequate job of maintaining some coherence in its songs.

Plus, Fatty Lumpkin is very entertaining to watch on stage.

The band’s songwriting formula is simple: Write lyrics as twisted and repugnant as possible, throw in some samples from B-movies, horror flicks and cartoons, and presto, you have a Fatty Lumpkin song.

Whether it intends to or not, Fatty Lumpkin often tends toward brilliance. Take the song “Chrome Plated Wet Dream,” slated to appear on the upcoming compilation album “Lie Lack City,” for example. Quite simply, the song is the best song the Jesus Lizard never recorded.

Ironically, the band didn’t intend for the song to be on the release.

“I don’t think we would have really picked that one,” said DeVaney. “But it was the only one that was done.”

Fatty Lumpkin also has a 10-song, locally-released tape called “Beautiful Music for Ugly Children.”

Plans for the band include recording, releasing an album, touring, getting its van running and beefing up its stage show (with projection screens and samples). But before it can do that, Fatty Lumpkin must first earn some money.

“We’re basically desperate for help,” said Kelley. “We’re starving, broke, slow … we have no motivation. Once we get some help, we’ll get it together.

“We just bought a van,” added the drummer.

That’s a good start.

Baltimore’s Meatjack headlines. Other bands scheduled to play are Junior Rodeo Daredevils and the Fumes.