Time Crashers make punk history
The dude in the golden faux laurel leaf headband is drinking beer, shooting pool and, intermittently, extolling the merits of time travel party punk.
"Must I remind you of who I am?" he asks, upstairs at the Stake Out on a recent Thursday evening, brew in hand.
It's a fair question, one with a deliberately absurd answer.
He's Julius Caesar, bass player in the Time Crashers, an awesomely weird and weirdly awesome new Vegas band.
The four members take their identities from historical figures and tend to stay in character - at least on this night.
In addition to Caesar, there's frontman Nikola Tesla, guitarist Leonardo Da Vinci and drummer D.B. Cooper, who share a fondness for sci-fi, history, hard-edged, outer fringe rock 'n' roll and Pabst.
Together, they pen fast and loose rippers about doing beer bongs with Genghis Khan and guzzling Champagne with Charlemagne.
Admittedly, it'd all get really tedious really fast if the tunes were an afterthought to the schtick, but gruff, catchy jams like "Conquering the Keg" stick with you with the persistence of a hard-earned hangover.
It may sound ridiculous - and it is, that's the point - but it doesn't sound like anything else, either.
"We've gotten some weird comparisons," Tesla says, sporting a spiked denim jean jacket checkered with patches and a handlebar mustache, noting that the band has been likened to acts as disparate as the Dead Milkmen and the Mentors.
We'd call them a cross between Poison Idea and Robert Heinlein.
Check 'em out online (facebook.com/timecrashers) and draw your own conclusions.
It all began, where else, at a party, where Tesla pitched Da Vinci the idea for the group.
"We were trying to think of things to do and I said, 'H.G. Wells' "Time Machine": The band' " he recalls. "And he said, 'That's it.' "
The Time Crashers have been gigging since the beginning of the year, opening for power metallers Holy Grail, sticking out on ska bills and, for their next show, at Boomers this Friday, playing as part of a hardcore-leaning lineup.
They don't fit in anywhere and, as such, they can play just about everywhere.
Yeah, it's kind of hard to explain - even for these dudes themselves
"I've done a lot of partying. Give me a break," Caesar says at one point, searching for his words after a pregnant pause.
And with that, he returns to his beer.
Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow on Twitter @Jason Bracelin
