First impressions of the Horseshoe Spatulas bring three words to mind: cockiness, passion and cockiness.

But the Spatulas don’t seem to mind having such a disposition.

“It took a lot of years of crappiness to find our niche,” says bassist Manchops “Paste-Eater Boy” Chowder.

Those years of “crappiness” started nearly six years ago when singer Martin “Martini” Ini convinced drummer Crumpty “Suzy Q” Williams to start playing together for fun in high school. As Ini explains:

“I asked Crumpty if he wanted to jam and — “

” — the stars aligned and that’s destiny,” interjects Williams. “The years after that are a blur. Seriously. The next thing we know, we woke up and were in a band.”

The Spatulas added bassist Chowder and toured as a trio until they decided they needed a fuller sound and added another guitar player. Before that, they had a multitude of drummers who filled in the slots, Williams says.

The band starts throwing out names of their old drummers, including Garganton and Pickleboy. The Spinal Tap-esque rotation of drummers ended when the band moved Williams to drums and added Tommy “Jailbird” Janklefingers two years ago.

The addition of another guitarist has changed the band for the better sound-wise, Wiliams says, describing the band as “post new-wave punk apocalyptic experimental rock.”

“Basically, we took early ’90s punk and ran with it,” Ini says.

After spending years crafting their own style, the members of the Horseshoe Spatulas have a lot to say about the Ames music scene.

“There’s too much emo,” Williams says. “Everyone takes themselves too seriously.”

When asked to name some good local bands, there is almost a full minute of silence as the four members struggle to think of one. Finally, Ini speaks up.

“Everyone is following the same trends,” Ini says. “It’s bad for the scene.”

The band counts Bad Religion and the Aquabats as influences, with Oingo Boingo thrown in for good measure, Janklefingers says.

“The point was to work serious songs, but put them out in a funny manner,” Ini says.

“We’ve been compared to the Vandals,” Williams adds.

With the current lineup, the band has played more shows than it can count, Williams says. None of those shows, however, have been in Ames.

“We’ve been cutting back on shows in Ames, because we’ve been trying to work on our new album,” says Janklefingers.

“Yeah, trying,” Chowder jokes.

The members of the Spatulas have been hunkered down in Ini’s basement studio for the last few months recording their new album, which should be out this summer.

“It’s an unbelievably shocking, amazing album,” Williams says. “Once people hear the album, it’s going to have a good impact.”

After a long period of deprivation, ISU students can hear songs from the upcoming album at the Horseshoe Spatulas’ Ames homecoming show at Bali Satay House, 2424 Lincoln Way, Friday night.

“The Bali Satay is going to be destroyed,” Williams says. “This will awaken the masses from their slumber.”

Post-Bali, the band will continue working on the album to tweak it and have it finished on time, Williams says.

After just a short conversation with the members of the Horseshoe Spatulas, it’s obvious first impressions must be wrong every once in a while. New words spring to when describing them: Confidence, passion and confidence.

“You know, people probably thought we were a joke when we started,” Williams says. “They still do.”

“But the joke’s on them,” Ini says. “We’re not breaking up any time soon.”

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Downloadable MP3: “The Elevator Song” by the Horseshoe Spatulas