Local music: Come on, get Japhies

If true, this might be the best compliment I've ever heard paid to a band:

Japhies singer Reed Wilkerson -- who has raised quite a ruckus of late with his wild, Iggy-fied stage antics -- jumped off the bar at Cause Spirits & Soundbar one night last fall and scraped a young, female audience member bad enough for an ambulance to be called. Instead of suing, the girl allegedly told the band afterward, "That was awesome!"

"I told her she can get into our shows free for the rest of her life," said an astonished Wilkerson. "But she has to stand more toward the back."

The rare act to be played on local shows at both 93X and 89.3 the Current -- a testament to their classic rawwwk sound and punky attitude -- the Japhies have built a reputation on action-packed live sets, including a Zombie Pub Crawl party where the crowd-surfing Wilkerson got thrown over the bar at Palmer's.

The quartet's members are quite proud of their notoriety, even when it has drawn ire and skepticism. That said, they are hoping to jump into new territory as quickly as possible.

Last week, the Japhies started recording at Flowers Studio with producer Ed Ackerson (Polara, BNLX) for a full-length debut they hope to have out by late spring. A sign of how serious they are, the band that sometimes played two gigs a week last year hasn't performed for two months. Instead, they've hunkered down to write.

"We love playing live, but until now we haven't quite figured out the right way to capture that energy in the studio," Wilkerson explained. "So our philosophy was to stop playing and really try not to think about the live performances at all, and just try to make the best songs possible, period."

Their new batch of 20 songs reflects a tumultuous year in their personal lives. The singer saw a couple friends die, and he and another member each broke up with longtime girlfriends -- splits that he said were "all about choosing between the band and the relationship."

A Twin Cities native, Wilkerson formed the Japhies with snaky guitarist Ben Hovorka, from Sioux City, S.D. Those two share songwriting duties with bassist Matthew Homan, all of whom come from varying musical backgrounds -- so much so that while touring last year, they could agree on only one classic band to listen to.

"You can count on a heavy Zeppelin influence on the new record," said Wilkerson, who added that Robert Plant and Freddie Mercury (not Iggy Pop) have always been his main influences as a frontman. "I can play guitar, too, but I'm sick of seeing so many Twin Cities bands whose singers just stand there staring at their fretboards."

The Japhies will end their hiatus from the stage Friday at the Triple Rock. The gig is billed as Wilkerson's 26th birthday party, but more important, it's being used to test-drive the new material. Not surprisingly, the birthday boy said, "It's only been two months, but it seems a lot longer. We are seriously itching for this show."

Random mix

The Honeydogs are going ahead with their March 10 release party at First Avenue for "What Comes After," their 10th album and first for Grain Belt Records. Now featuring Darren "Kid Dakota" Jackson on guitar, the band will donate $1 from each ticket to a memorial fund for frontman Adam Levy's son, Daniel, who battled mental illness and took his life three weeks ago. ...

Friday's promising "Ice Damage Incorporated" show at the Turf Club will benefit Tasha Pruitt, a local scenester hurt by falling ice outside her apartment last winter. There will be cool auction items and sets by Gay Witch Abortion, Bloodnstuff, the Birthday Suits and Seawhores, who are putting together a laser-light show for the event (9 p.m., $8). ... Not only does the Turf Club have Charlie Parr as its Tuesday resident for February, but it also snagged rising country harmonizers the Cactus Blossoms for a new Monday-night residency starting next week. ...

Seawhores and G.W.A. are featured on a cool new compilation from Learning Curve Records, "Butcher's Waltz," a sort of four-way split-EP with Skoal Kodiak and New York's Power Take Off. Each band got a 10-minute window to fill, resulting in some mayhemic "suites." ...

To hype their upcoming record for Death Cab guitarist Chris Walla's label Trans, Blaine-reared indie-pop trio Now, Now dropped a three-song digital EP this week, "Dead Oaks." The full-length album, produced by Howard Redekopp (Tegan and Sara, New Pornographers), arrives March 6. ... The Pines just issued their best album yet, "Dark So Gold," and will promote it live Feb. 17 at the Cedar. Look online for their haunting new video, "Cry, Cry, Crow," filmed by the crew behind Bon Iver's "Holocene" clip. ...

Saturday's show at Cause is billed as the farewell gig for Icy Shores, the stormy band led by Nick Hegarty (brother of Antony & the Johnsons' Antony Hegarty). Hegarty cited "competing priorities." ... Speaking of icy, look up the amazing photos of Atmosphere's show last weekend at Denver's Red Rocks Amphitheater, the famed venue's first winter show ever. Especially this winter, I wonder why we can't have something similar here?

Follow Riemenschneider on Twitter: @ChrisRstrib