As with most things in life, luck plays at least a minimal role in a band’s chances of gracing the pages of the Weekly Volcano. Not that my fellow scribes and I don’t do our homework (I definitely do the least), or plan ahead (I definitely do the least of that too), and not that being scribbled about in this little rag is necessarily worth writing home about, but sometimes things just fall together. Sometimes a band I hadn’t even considered writing about a month ago becomes the center of Rock Rhetoric.



Such is the case with Pretty Ugly, who will play Maggie O’Toole’s in Lakewood on Friday.



Over the last few months, my focus has been fairly concentrated. Hell’s Kitchen and Le Voyeur. I’ve written about one or the other almost ever week since June.



My fascination with the Kitchen is nothing new, and every show at Le Voyeur I covered was more than deserving, but, as they say, diversity is the spice of life. I’m not a very adventurous eater, but even I know my diet needs a little flavor.



Even more important than luck in life is timing. Timing is everything. I started looking for ways to diversify my column, and McCabe’s, Maggie O’Toole’s, the Alano Club, Club Adrian, Viaduct, and probably at least one joint I’m forgetting started booking shows that couldn’t be ignored. All of a sudden I had more shows and venues deserving column space than I had column space.



One predicament led to another, but for the record, having too many shows to choose from is nothing to complain about. I’ve worked in Tacoma long enough to attest to it.

This week I thought I’d focus on Maggie O’Toole’s. Maggie’s may be in Lakewood, but the club’s Tuesday night “Loud and Local” show has been enough to make me look past the crazy Lakewood Towne Center traffic flow — a pretty amazing feat. Not only is Maggie’s hosting local shows every Tuesday, but their weekends aren’t half bad either.



A couple of weeks ago Pappi Swarner forwarded me a fluke e-mail from Pretty Ugly. It was a typical e-mail, nothing too crazy about it. It simply encouraged the Weekly Volcano to check out Pretty Ugly on MySpace (www.myspace.com/weareprettyugly) and possibly attend a show. The e-mail noted Pretty Ugly would be playing Maggie O’Toole’s Aug. 17.



Flash forward to me on the last day of July, eyes red and in my underwear, scanning the Internet for shows to cover in August. I recognize Pretty Ugly’s name from the fluke e-mail. I see they’re playing Maggie O’Toole’s — a club I’ve wanted to get into my column anyway.



Voila — Pretty Ugly is in the Weekly Volcano.



Ok. Ok. Actually, there was a little more to it than that. I recognized the band’s name from the e-mail, and they were playing Maggie’s, but I still had to check them out a little before deciding to devote an entire week to them. As it turns out, Pretty Ugly is right down my alley.



By their own account, Pretty Ugly plays “whatever the fuck (we) want.” According to the band, they seem to worship alternarock from days gone by — crediting Queen as much as Pantera in their development — “If you still have a jean jacket, old cassette tapes & like your rock and roll full of drunken debauchery,” Pretty Ugly is your kind of band.



I tossed my tapes some time ago, but the other two descriptions apply. As Meatloaf once said before taking a slug off the gravy boat, “Two out of three aint bad.” After listening to the four tracks Pretty Ugly has posted on MySpace, and noticing the band has Pabst, Camel Cigarettes, and the Lusty Lady in their top 12, I knew Pretty Ugly was for me.

Pretty Ugly is bassist Jeff Rambin, guitarist Jeremy Jacques, drummer Bo Edmond and vocalist/guitarist Conner Rambin. The Rambins are brothers. (Conner Rambin played in Pistol for a Paycheck, and Edmonds with Feed the Robots.) Earlier this year the band released its debut full length, The Bungled and the Botched.



Together they call Tacoma home.



“After the demise of his previous project Pistol For A Paycheck, Conner spent some time writing new material,” explains Jeff Rambin. “Needing a band, he came to me. He wanted me to play bass for him. He had some songs, and I was totally into them. In a gross and failing marriage anyways, I jumped on board. We sought out a drummer and found Bo. Bo was just wrapping up with his previous band, Feed The Robots.”



“It just felt good right away. We came together like a crackhead to his pipe.



“I can’t see it being anymore real. (We are) a bunch of guys doing it the way we want, regardless the price. Like the cats before our days. Rock is what we bring to the table,” he continues.



“I think the response has been good. We’re still out promoting The Bungled and the Botched and looking forward to returning to the studio to record new material that I think is even better. We’re a bunch of guys having fun rocking, because that’s what we fucking do.”



That’s what Pretty Ugly does, and god bless them for it. It may not be rocket science (or science of any sort), but the world needs a little more of it sometimes.



Pretty Ugly plays Maggie O’Toole’s this Friday. Believe it or not, they make a trip to Lakewood worth your while.



[Maggie O’Toole’s, with Slackhabit and guests, 9 p.m., $5, 6006 100th St. S.W., Lakewood, 253.584.3278]