Danger-indulgent dudes

Any mother will tell you, concerts are dangerous.

Any fan of Buffalo music will tell you, hometown Every Time I Die shows are especially dangerous. Two years ago at The Cruise Inn in Lackawanna, the band nearly incited a riot, encouraging the already-raucous to rip down the venue's ceiling fans.

"I remember that show vividly," said guitarist Jordan Buckley. "We didn't get paid and the owner threatened to shoot us."

Buckley says that's the way things ought to be.

"The more damage they do to themselves and to each other, the better you rate the show," he said. "That's the rule of the road."

Every Time I Die brings their idea of what a show should be to Rochester Friday with supporting acts High On Fire, The Chariot and The Red Chord. It is the closest the group is coming to their hometown anywhere in the near future.

"Our booking agent doesn't want us to see our homes," Buckley said.

Buckley knows he's a rock star. Interview him and he'll yawn if he feels like it. He knows he's doing you a favor.

He's politically incorrect and has a well-versed sense of humor.

After leaving Seattle last week, he sounded off on the region.

"The Northwest is definitely my least favorite place in the whole f***ing country. There's a lot of hippies, a lot of bums," he said.

He's polite enough, but coarse and confident.

"I'm in a f***ing band," he said in the midst of explaining his comfort with his measure of fame. He says that as though nothing could be a more legitimate means of notoriety.

He might be justified. What could be cooler than playing guitar in a band that has made it to the Billboard chart without the aid of major-label support?

The group's startling success as a result of their last two albums, "Hot Damn!" and this year's "Gutter Phenomenon" has left Buckley more comfortable playing away from home, thanks to the preference of fans of independent music that a band be less successful.

"I have anxiety coming home. It's scary and it's terrifying," Buckley said. "The kids who came to your first show hate you now. We didn't do anything to them."

He maintains that even with "Gutter Phenomenon's" slight move away from the group's characteristic helter-skelter songwriting, there was no conscious effort to produce a more accessible record.

"When you're 23 and have been writing music for 7 years, it's stupid to think a band would sound like they did when they were 16," Buckley said.

Many hardcore and metal bands level off after a few albums. Every Time I Die's trajectory has shown no such plateau. With each new record, the band has outsold its previous release considerably. Buckley said longevity is the goal.

"I don't want to be one of these bands that gets a huge pit when they play and then everyone forgets about them," he said. "When you talk about AC/DC, Black Sabbath, that s*** still works today. Look at Black Sabbath, drawing 60,000 people."

Buckley showed his admiration for AC/DC the last time the group played in Buffalo, introducing the band with the opening solo from "Thunderstruck."

"One of the things we learned was to have a kick-ass intro," he said. "The Monday Night Football theme was popular for a while. Today, it's this triumphant 'Rocky III' theme."

Buckley learned a lot of what he knows about music from a member of the UB staff, his father, computer science and technology lecturer Michael Buckley, who told The Spectrum he will attending Friday's performance.

"He was definitely the one who got me into playing guitar," Jordan said. "He took me to see Pink Floyd when I was 12."

Despite the paternal link, the Every Time I Die guitarist didn't find the most success at UB.

"UB was my favorite college to drop out of," he said. "They dropped illustration, and that was my major."

Buckley then summed up his situation in a characteristic manner.

"I was like, 'F*** this. I'm going on tour.'"