A Stray Cat's new home

A few days into the sessions for his next album, Brian Setzer already can name at least one experience unique to his adopted home state.

While setting up last week at Pachyderm Studio -- less than an hour's drive south of the Twin Cities in woodsy Cannon Falls -- the former Stray Cats frontman noticed a furry little tail sticking out of a coffee mug he had set on a ledge.

"They've got a bit of a chipmunk problem here," he said with the smirk that helped make him an MTV star in the early 1980s and again in the mid-'90s.

But Setzer -- who now lives in Minneapolis -- was clearly content working close to home, in the secluded studio where Nirvana made "In Utero." During a break in recording, the 47-year-old rock vet proudly showed off his vintage amps and two new, custom-built Gretsch guitars, painted with the same colors he used on his 1932 Ford hot rod: Candy Tangerine and Lime Gold. He also showed off the lyrics to a new song he thought us locals might like: It's called "Hennepin Avenue Bridge."

The one new item Setzer couldn't seem to stop gushing about, though, was his new wife.

A Twin Cities native and former singer with the Dustbunnies, Julie Setzer (nee Reiten) is the reason one of rock's great modern vintage players moved to town from Los Angeles. The couple married last summer, bought a loft in downtown Minneapolis last fall and have been living here mostly on a full-time basis.

After months of getting a feel for the place, Brian Setzer is ready to -- you guessed it -- rock this town. With his band from Nashville already headed to town for the sessions, he booked them a gig Wednesday at one of his favorite new hangouts, Lee's Liquor Lounge, which he likened to "your uncle's finished basement."

Talk about a welcoming reception: The Lee's show sold out before the promoter had time to take out an ad for it.

"I can't wait!" Setzer roared.

Moving to Minnesota is just the latest turn in Setzer's already multifaceted career. Reared in New York, he relocated with the Stray Cats in 1980 to England, where rockabilly was more en vogue (a fact that would soon change).

One of the trio's first big breaks in America came in the Twin Cities, when they opened for the Rolling Stones at the St. Paul Civic Center in 1981 before they had a stateside record deal.

"God, were we nervous," Setzer recalled. "I remember Mick [Jagger] came out to introduce us, I think because he saw we were so petrified."

The Stray Cats quickly broke out with a string of hits in the early-'80s ("Rock This Town,"Stray Cat Strut,"Runaway Boys"), but they broke up almost as rapidly in 1984. After a couple of modestly received solo rock albums, Setzer made it back to the charts in 1994 by reinventing himself as a swinging big-band leader with "The Brian Setzer Orchestra" album.

The BSO remains a popular touring attraction, but Setzer said he'll probably retire it after a holiday tour this year.

"It's fun, but it's just really expensive and a lot of work playing with that many pieces," he said.

His wife is the one part of the orchestra he's keeping. She was hired as a backup singer around 1999. As Setzer recalled it, "When she walked in to audition, I thought, 'God, I hope she's good.' "

For her part, Julie Setzer said she planned to tour with the orchestra for only a year, but those plans changed fast. The two started dating almost immediately.

"We realized we had a lot in common from the start, even with our different backgrounds," she said.

Before he married her in Palm Springs last summer, Setzer recorded one of his best albums in years, "Rockabilly Riot: A Tribute to Sun Records," featuring gritty but reverent versions of favorites such as "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Get Rhythm" plus many lesser-known nuggets. The disc got him back into his rocker/leather/hot-rod mode, where he's staying for this next record.

"This album is really coming straight from my guitar; it's all about the riffs," he promised.

One of the guests in these sessions (and probably at Lee's) will be former Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom. The three ex-Cats, including bassist Lee Rocker, have feuded over the years, but they did reunite for a European tour in 2004. Setzer said they might do it again "if there were people knocking down the door." He's not waiting around for that to happen, though.

In fact, aside from finishing his new album, Setzer plans to take much of the summer off. "I want to take the hot rods out and see more of this beautiful country," he said.

His wife said one reason Setzer likes Minnesota is because people don't bother him too much when they recognize him, with his tattooed arms and wavy, pompadour blond hair as familiar trademarks.

"You'd think people in L.A. would be cooler about that sort of stuff, but they're not," she said.

Setzer, though, gave his own reasons why he likes it here -- four good reasons, actually.

"I wrote four songs just last week," he bragged. "I definitely credit that to living here. There are less distractions and more of a laid-back state of mind. I think that can really open people up creatively."

Heads (and thumbs) up

It's not all corn dogs and Little River Band at outdoor music and summer fests this year. Some pretty adventurous events are coming up over the next few weekends, starting with Brother & Sister's "Escape From Summer School," another daylong scavenger hunt that the adventure-loving metal duo has lined up for June 10. As always, the details (or "clues," rather) will be revealed that morning on Radio K. I do know that Doomtree, Snakebird and Faggot are among the scheduled performers.

A weekend later, on June 17, Low, Happy Apple and the Deaths are playing out at Square Lake Park near Stillwater (awesome beach!) for the Square Lake Summer Solstice Fest. Low will debut its score for the movie "The Plow That Broke the Plains."

Probably the weirdest and wildest of them all, avant-garde guru Matthew St-Germain is working on a second annual End Times Festival, June 23-25 at the Turf Club. Japanese cult legends the Boredoms are coming to town for it, as are experimental bands from around the country with names like XBXRX and T.I.T.S. WOW.

Random mix

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Sort of a rock 'n' roll comedian (which justifies her getting plugged here), Maria Bamford is taping a DVD tonight at the Varsity Theater. Bamford went from waiting tables at Pizza Lucé to being one-fourth of Comedy Central's "Comedians of Comedy" cast, also including Patton Oswalt and Brian Posehn. Her show tonight, "Plan B," is about having a meltdown and returning home to Minnesota. As if that ever helps.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER