Listen Up: The Dranks and The Humper Show : GoMemphis.com

J. D. Dutton formed his first band — Mugwumps — after he got out of high school in Marion, Ohio. “We had cassette decks and reel-to-reels and four tracks, everything bumped together so we could overdub like the way Les Paul did when he was young,” said Dutton, 48. “We’d write songs and as we’d write them, we’d record them.”

He followed that group with Barbed Wire Dolls. “It was like a cartoon band, but we were packing the venues. It was kind of like the whole Ramones thing — just hair and leather and boots and chrome.”

Then came his popular touring group, the Action Family Band.

Except for a stint at technical school, music has been Dutton’s life.

Shortly after the his popular touring group, Action Family Band broke up, Dutton decided to move to Memphis. Since relocating here two years ago, he’s formed two bands — The Dranks and The Humper Show.

The Dranks drummer Bruce Saltmarsh, who played drums in Action Family Band, already was in Memphis as a member of the 68 Comeback band.

“I came up here thinking we were gonna put together some sort of artsy, distinguished type band,” Dutton said. “I go, ‘I think we should call ourselves The Absynth Drinkers.’”

Saltmarsh came up with “The Drinkers,” but, he said, “I think there was a typo in an e-mail or something and it became The Dranks.

The band also includes Cort Williams on vocals, Tommy Trouble on bass and Scott Rogers on guitar and vocals. “We like to play around with that big ’70s rock band monster (sound),” said Dutton, who sings and plays guitar. “There’s country music thrown in there, too.”

“It’s more about being fun,” Williams said. “We’re not trying to make money. We just enjoy playing.”

“Practice is more like hanging out with your pals,” Trouble added.

All the members contribute to the songs. Williams wrote, “Warlord.” “It’s kind of about George Bush and ‘The Warriors’ movie kind of put together in some drunken way,” Dutton said. “Cort’s like a Picasso. Right now he’s in his White Russian period.”

Describing one of his own songs, “I’m Not Ready,” Dutton said, “That one is about this horrible bad luck, like cars catching fire and dogs running away. Friends won’t come around. And it’s just figuring out it’s because of the woman you’re hanging out with.”

The Humper Show, which features Dutton on guitar and vocals, Suzy Hendrix on saxophone, Trouble on bass and Adam Hawk on drums, began about a year ago. “The Splints were having a CD release party and they had some dancing girls. This was at Murphy’s. They wanted me and Suzy to go play bass and sax while the girls danced. We were messing around playing songs. Somebody asked, ‘What are you guys called?’ And Suzy goes, ‘The Humper Show.’”

Dutton is in the process of starting another band, a country group that will include Williams and Saltmarsh. “I think Bruce wants to call it ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down.’”

To see a video of this band, go to gomemphis.com and click on AppealTV.

The Humper Show, The Dranks and The Perfect Fits at 10 p.m. Saturday at Nocturnal, 1588 Madison. Cover: $5. Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.