Vegas’ Mad Caps playing hard

Seeing as how the term "rock 'n' roll" began as a euphemism for sex, it's fitting that he uses sex as an analogy to describe the proper approach to rock 'n' roll.

"If you're a good lay," Ted Rader begins. "That doesn't mean you have to go for it on the first date."

Tension and release, restraint and aplomb, these are some of the defining components of Rader's band, garage blues firebombs The Mad Caps.

On a recent Tuesday night, Rader and his bandmate, drummer Jon Real, are nestled into a booth at the Stake Out, sitting beneath a framed portrait of a "Casablanca"-era Humphrey Bogart in a natty white suit, exuding cool like the coming of winter.

It's a fitting backdrop: The Mad Caps' roots-based r 'n' r is old school, in a way, but timeless in its primal howl.

Last week, the band celebrated the release of its new, self-titled disc, an equally visceral and crisp recording that manages to harness the energy of the band's must-see live gigs, which approximate the overheated zeal of a Pentecostal revival in a sweat-slicked rock 'n' roll gig.

Recorded live to tape on an eight-track reel-to-reel machine in the Boulder City home of Dude City frontman Jack Johnson, who captures the duo's knock-'em-on-their-heels wallop but also exhibits a keen attention to detail, the nine-song rager is among the best Vegas releases of the year thus far.

"I think the recording definitely accented the delicacies," says Rader, a lean, wiry music lifer in a white V-neck T-shirt. "A lot of times live, you get so caught in feedback and the overbearing volume and you notice all the nuances. I think the record really does that justice."

Said record swings hard, with Rader panting, moaning and hyperventilating on the mic like Jerry Lee Lewis traversing some hot coals barefoot, while coming with some serious guitar bombast underscored by funk and finesse.

The Mad Caps have been going for broke for a few years now, but have evolved considerably after Real entered the fold, replacing the band's original drummer with his equally tasteful and torque-heavy playing.

"I was actually a big fan," says Real, an animated presence with scruffy hair and a nose ring, speaking of The Mad Caps before he joined the band. "I would go to the shows and I would be the dude drunk and dancing."

Together, Rader and Real are two dudes who sound like twice that many when they're onstage.

"We play hard," Rader understates, working on his second beer of the night. "There's only two people in this band. We have to make it right."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.