The rumours you’ve heard are true: White Cowbell Oklahoma’s shows are about the craziest thing you’ll find in rock and roll today. Past onstage hijinks have included coleslaw wrestling, stuffed animals massacred with chainsaws, gratuitous nudity, flamethrowers and more.

So you can hardly blame fans and reviewers for not having much to say about the actual music. That is, until now.

Frontman Clem C. Clemson assured The Question that the White Cowbell Oklahoma tradition of outrageous debauchery onstage hasn’t waned. But what has changed is that the music on the band’s recent album, Bombardero, has finally matched the crazy stage show.

As one reviewer wrote of the album: “this streamlined puppy contains… attitude, speed, aggression and freedom from the predictability of typical, blasé rock.”

The album has a decidedly 1970s flavour, a departure from the more country-rock, southern boogie sounds of the Toronto band’s previous two albums. Clemson said along the way someone must have slipped the band something psychedelic, resulting in a desire to break out the Mellotron.

The band lists influences such as Atomic Rooster, Black Sabbath, Hawkwind and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The album includes a cover of the Edgar Winter Group’s “Frankenstein.”

The psychedelic sound is only fitting, Clemson said, considering the band’s popularity in B.C. and Amsterdam, if you smell what they’re smoking.

He admits the band’s stage show was so “miraculous” that in the past, people didn’t really listen to the records, regardless of how good they were. The band took things up a notch on Bombardero, with Clemson figuring there are more notes on the new album than the other two combined — a good value for fans.

“We like to think that it’s a masterpiece,” he said of Bombardero.

White Cowbell Oklahoma is returning to Whistler on Sunday (Sept. 6), stopping by the GLC on a special tour to celebrate the band’s 10th anniversary.

When asked what some of his favourite memories of the past decade are, Clemson — true to tongue-in-cheek form — recalled a surprising number that involved arrests and hotel evictions. And despite an on-mountain injury the last time through town, Whistler has been another highlight. The band has fond memories of “showing up and annihilating the town,” he said, and promised more annihilation to come.

“We’re going to employ all the insanity we always did but the notes are going to come at you fast and furious,” Clemson said.

Jaw and pants will be dropping, and a few people might get scared by the array of power tools Chainsaw Charley now has in his arsenal.

“We’re going to break a lot of bylaws in Whistler,” he said.

Previously a nine-man “rock armada,” the White Cowbell Oklahoma roster has been streamlined to six musicians, including three lead guitars. The Sergeant, who previously shared lead vocals with Clemson, left the band during the recording of Bombardero.

“We get to call ourselves a sextet, which is pretty cool,” Clemson said. “We are a six-pointed throwing star of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Get psychedelic with White Cowbell Oklahoma on Sunday (Sept. 6) at the GLC. Vancouver psychobilly band The Deadcats are set to warm up the crowd for the crazy antics to come.

Tickets are $15 in advance and can be purchased at Billabong, Katmandu and the venue, or online at www.clubzone.com.