Halloween may be just around the corner, but for some people, everyday is an occasion to toe the line of fashionable taste. Saturday afternoon may belong to the Cyclones and the Buffs, but Saturday night is all Johnny Socko.

These one time Hoosiers (and not too proud of it) bring their big tent madness to People’s Bar and Grill for what is surely a show the likes of which Ames has never before seen.

Sporting the new fall collections of Goodwill, Value Village and the Salvation Army, the men of Johnny Socko are truly a sight to behold. The concept for JS started as a joke on the campus of Indiana University in 1990.

Following a long night of drinking, four of the now seven members decided it would be fun to start a band. Taking their name from a hero in the Japanese sci-fi film, Giant Robot, a lead singer was chosen despite having no singing experience.

During early rehearsals, the band members did nothing but make each other laugh. Needless to say, the antics continued on stage. “People are taken aback at how dumb we look. They think we’re a bunch of fruit loops, hairy men that wear dresses,” said Mike Wiltrout, lead singer.

Having completed a successful run of the East Coast, Johnny Socko is now making an assault on the Midwest. And these self-proclaimed beef lovers couldn’t have chosen a better city than Ames to sing their ode to cattle, “I Like Cows.”

“Here in the Midwest, we must reconcile ourselves with cows,” Wiltrout joked. “We must befriend them.”

Not only are these guys sensitive to the needs of the animal kingdom, they are socially conscious too. Their ditty “(This is your) Vasectomy” is about, well, getting a vasectomy. Many artists get song material from personal experiences, but not in this case.

“No, none of us have ever had a vasectomy,” Wiltrout explained. “But we’ve thought about it. It’s about time someone wrote a song about it though, don’t you think?”

Despite all the tomfoolery and clowning around, these are some serious musicians that make some serious music. Most attended the College of Music at Indiana and are proficient on a variety of instruments. “That’s us all right,” Wiltrout said. “A group of smelly guys and their instruments.

“Our music is pretty diverse. Lots of straight-out funkiness. Lots and lots of ska. Sometimes we throw in a heavy metal or country tune, just for fun.”

Another part of the fun is Johnny Socko’s approach to getting the crowd movin’. Yes, they know the true motivation behind all actions is being rewarded. Therefore, they often award door prizes to those who aren’t afraid to shake their booty.

“We just recently gave away a Willow coloring book. We’ve given a Big Wheel away and once the prize was watching me shave our drummer’s back,” Wiltrout joked. “I kept the hair, for my personal collection.

“That’s what it’s all about, dancing and jumping around. So many bands are shoe gazers, ya know? They just get up there and play, staring at their shoes the whole time.”

Never ones to stare at their shoes, namely because they might trip on their dresses, the Johnny Socko lineup is as follows: Wiltrout (known affectionately as Trout) besides heading this motley crew on vocals, plays the harmonica and is a master of the pan flute.

Josh Silbert (a.k.a. Joshy Boy) is the group’s saxophonist and percussionist. Living by the adage of “Judge not a musician by his musicianship, judge a musician by their food-service skills,” he is currently organizing a retro-90’s grunge/doo-wop ensemble called Nirva-na-na.

Norman, birth name Charlie Krone, plays trombone and adds a backing vocal here and there. Raised by Trappist monks in Belgium, a favorite hobby of Norm is watching stout ales ferment.

Guitarist and vocalist Joe Welch, who prefers to be called Hombre Rana, has never been to Belgium.

Steve Mascari, whom some call Chi Chi Tisdale, is the group’s bassist and created the big bottom soworumppusodelicgroovishmultiquantum-xtraconvolutedbigomatic bass sound. This explores the very innards of the listener’s soul, creating an envelope of suffocating futility that is the ultimate expression of all that is funk.

Trumpeter Damien Hostetter (just Damien, no alias) plays trumpet and is an old man dancer. Flapjack, drummer Dylan Wissing, studies 16th century Moroccan shoelace design and its application to contemporary Neanderthal culture.

T-shirts and their current CD, Bovaquarium, will be available at the show. Too bad for us though, Johnny Socko’s new CD, Oh, I DO Hope It’s Roastbeef, won’t be released until later this month when the group celebrates their fifth anniversary.

Special guests The Surahoolies make their way back to our neck of the woods to open the show. Showtime is set for 9:30 p.m. Cover is $3 and don’t forget your ID.