In a local music scene overflowing with metal and rap-rock acts, it’s hard to make a splash playing anything else.

But if anybody can accomplish this, it’s probably a group of jackasses.

“On the hard-core thing that does exist to a certain extent in this town, it all becomes almost blemished. Everyone is trying to be the heaviest,” The Jackass Project guitarist Errin Keltner says. “Everyone is just going lower and lower and deeper with their tones, and pretty soon they’re just going to have strings flapping off their guitars for lows.

“I think that market has become over-saturated. There’s some good stuff out there, but pretty soon it just sounds like a broken record. There’s just so much you can do with that diversity.”

So what can The Jackass Project bring to the scene? Soft-spoken drummer Todd Riekena can sum it up it up in a couple of words: melody and emotion.

With influences that range from Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to Acid Bath and Alice in Chains, and a list of musical styles that includes Celtic, jazz, funk, delta blues and metal, Jackass audiences are bound for a smorgasboard.

In the fall of 1998, Keltner and former Salt of Society frontman Michael Burk started to put the band together. After what Keltner describes as “threatening Todd’s life for about three weeks,” former Bocca Saint drummer Todd Riekena agreed to come along for the ride.

Kevin Miles later joined the group as the live studio guitarist and sound engineer. Keltner and Miles both formally worked with the local band-turned Ozzfest showstealers Slipknot. Miles was the sound engineer for Slipknot, and Keltner was their production/road manager.

Jackass entered the studio in April of 1999 to record a six-song demo. After cutting the demo, Jackass brought in bassist Andrew Drake and guitarist Jared Boise to fill the foundation that was laid in the studio.

Making a typical Jackass decision, the band decided to pull the demo straight off the desks of the A&R representatives at the studio, deciding it wasn’t the right time.

“We decided that we want things to happen naturally, not just because we know people,” Keltner says. “Everybody that we see is trying to be the biggest and the baddest instantly. Consequently, in the creation of our sound I can’t help but feel that what happens naturally is what is best for the band.”

One of the most interesting stories behind The Jackass Project is the group’s name. It was derived while Keltner was at a music store trying out a guitar. After tuning the guitar in his own bizarre way, he heard a couple of prominent Des Moines area musicians discussing his tuning and referring to him as a jackass.

“I thought, open your mind a little bit and maybe you can find a new sound, consequently,” Keltner says. “If that’s what a jackass is, then I’m proud to be that, and I’m proud that all of these guys are. Plus, there’s another side to the Jackass — we don’t give a shit.”

“We all have mental disorders,” Riekena adds to Keltner’s explanation.

These disorders will be exposed when Jackass goes back into the studio in December. This time the band will be working on a 12-to-14-song album.

The band will continue their peculiar ways while in the studio. Sleeping in the sound booths, lots of beer, naked band members wearing giant cowboy hats and, of course, hard work, is the method of mayhem behind The Jackass Project.

This weekend will mark Jackass’ live debut when it plays two shows in downtown Des Moines.

High expectations are mounting within the local scene for the dark, melodic group, but after weekends of 12-hour rehearsals, Jackass is ready for the challenge.

“I thing it’s going to be tight. The music is ready, people are ready for it, and there’s a lot of anticipation for it,” Riekena says.