A country band doesn’t have to wear cowboy boots and play acoustic guitars.

Local band The Fightin’ Side is opening for Rhett Miller at the Maintenance Shop in the Memorial Union tonight, and fusing country and punk into an eclectic experience.

Eric Hutchison, drummer for the band and senior in elementary education, finds this fusion works quite well.

“I think a lot of kids that are into the hardcore scene, the punk scene, they really relate to that good country, like old-school Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash,” Hutchison said. “Those guys were high every day, you know, bustin’ out of jail, on the road.”

Presented in this way, the combination seems quite sensible – the hard, aggressive sounds of punk are a perfect fit for the tough, hard-nosed ethos of such country artists.

The band’s name is taken from the title of a patriotic Merle Haggard song, “The Fightin’ Side of Me.” However, Hutchison warns not to read too much into the source.

“I think it’s just a tough band name,” Hutchison said. “We’re not about loving America.”

Hutchison said a the band’s major punk influences are Social Distortion and Rancid.

The Fightin’ Side’s lineup is also more like that of a punk outfit than a country band, with no acoustic instruments and plenty of distortion.

“It’s really rough – lots of distortion on the guitars, really dirty vocals – nothing’s all that clean. [Vocalist Travis Pierce] sounds like he’s been smoking and drinking too much,” Hutchison said. “That’s exactly how we want to sound.”

Hutchison said the band doesn’t try to be too complex, comparing it to music one might hear in a dirty country bar.

“To be in a country band and try to do it fancy is completely missing the point of the entire musical genre,” he said.

The band’s themes include life on the road, redemption and the complexity of life. The songs try to stay rough and dirty without being pessimistic.

“I would say our songs are pretty encouraging to people. And I think our songs are pretty fun, too. We’re not too serious – we’re a band that writes about smoking and drinking, and we really don’t do any of those things, which is weird,” Hutchison said. “I would say if you have a beer in your hand, or a glass of whiskey, I think you’re gonna enjoy our show.”

Hutchison underlined the aesthetic importance of drinking, saying it is necessary to the enjoyment of the band’s music.

“I think drinking is key in country music in general. It’s not drinking heavily, but it makes you think, it makes you write songs,” Hutchison said.

The band formed in April 2006 when Pierce, senior in elementary education, and Hutchison shared a number of classes together and realized their musical tastes were similar. Pierce recruited two of his friends, Brad Grout and Mike Bosworth, to round out the group.

Since then, The Fightin’ Side has played two shows: last October at the M-Shop and last November at the Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines alongside Des Moines-based Why Make Clocks.

Rick Snyder, program director for the M-Shop and senior in civil engineering, has seen the band perform and had good things to say.

“I think they’re just a good alt-country band,” said Snyder. “They’ve got some good songs, and they bring a lot of energy.”

The future of the band appears simple. Pierce and Hutchison are both in school and the other two members have full-time jobs, so time constraints prevent them from doing too much with the band. The band is not interested in touring, though Pierce has in the past, and brings his experiences to the band’s songs.

Hutchison cut right to the crux of The Fightin’ Side’s appeal.

“I think if you’re gonna come to a Fightin’ Side show, I think you’ve gotta have a drink in your hand, and I think you’ve just gotta have a good time,” Hutchison said. “And I think that when we tell you to, you’ve gotta put it up in the air and you’ve gotta hoot and holler.”