Why Make Clocks vocalist and guitarist Dan Hutchison really hopes a lot of people come to the band’s record release party tonight at the Maintenance Shop. Of course he does, right? What band wouldn’t want a lot of its supporters showing their respect and packing the place for a night of music — especially when it is for the local band’s first release on Rubric Records?

So Hutchison wants you to be there for those reasons, but he also hopes the show lures in a lot of fans because the moody alt-country five-piece is about to embark on a three-week West Coast tour and he has $40 in his checking account. A successful show at the M-Shop could start the tour off on a good foot financially, or at least a better one than it is on now.

“I figure I can live off of peanut butter sandwiches,” he says with a laugh. “If I have one of those a day, I should be able to survive.”

It’s easy to hear the nervousness in Hutchison’s voice, and rightfully so. This will be uncharted territory for Hutchison, multi-instrumentalist Brian Wiksell, guitarist Karl Siemers, bassist Boonie Boone — also a Daily staff writer — and Pat Curtis on drums. Just last summer, the band inked a deal with the New York-based Rubric and released its debut record, “Fifteen Feet and Twenty Degrees” on Oct. 1.

“I’m excited about playing, but I’m already ready for it to be over. I think the hardest part will be for everyone to find time for themselves to kind of recoup after the shows and not hate each other when we get back,” Hutchison says.

Personal space will be at a premium due to the fact that the band will be sharing a ride with Christopher Gibbs, the other act on the tour. Wiksell says Gibbs arrived late Tuesday night from New York in the van that both acts will be sharing.

That’s not all they will be sharing, either — Why Make Clocks will be Gibbs’ backing band in addition to its regular show. To do this, the band has been rehearsing two sets to prepare for the tour.

“It’s been a little bit tricky. All of us have had full-time jobs but we are kind moving away from full-time jobs in order to concentrate on the band,” Wiksell says. “And then trying to balance our personal lives and having to rehearse both our own set and a second set has been tough too.”

The tour is scheduled to take the band to states including California, Texas and Arizona. But it is the date in Billings, Mont., that has Hutchison the most excited.

“It just seems like something that would happen in a Spinal Tap story,” Hutchinson says. “I’m sure I’ll love it there, but it will be a funny story.”

The band isn’t expecting instant success on the road and Hutchison knows the crowds aren’t going to come easy.

“It doesn’t matter how many people we are playing in front of, it just matters that we are physically out there playing our first tour. It’s hard for me to imagine our first tour being successful.”

Although most bands say they make more money touring than selling records, he doesn’t expect to see too much green this tour.

“Some places we are playing have guarantees,” Hutchison explains. “Others have a free meal and a tip jar. I don’t think there are a whole lot of those though.”

That’s too bad, because those free meals are going to be plenty tasty after two weeks of peanut butter sandwiches.