Motor City madman

The Dirtbombs' singer-guitarist Mick Collins has it good. The man isn't even 40, and he's already been accorded living-legend status in the Detroit garage-rock scene. Almost every White Stripes bio has at least a chapter devoted to him: Jack White big-ups Collins's various bands every chance he gets.

Known for their off-kilter blues-punk, the Dirtbombs, unlike other bands in the same genre, got their sound directly from the original '50s and '60s sources, rather than copying the Black Keys verbatim the way less knowledgeable bands do. Even though Collins knows his roots (he's blessed with a singing voice that sounds eerily like John Lee Hooker's), he's more interested in throwing concepts against the wall, just to see what sticks and what slides. "I don't really think of us as a garage band," he explains. When we bring up the fact that some of the early Dirtbombs 7-inch singles were, for lack of a better term, avant-garde, Collins agrees. "You can say I'm avant-garde, man; that's fine. I don't have issues with that kind of thing," he says, laughing. "I think of the Dirtbombs as being closer to Roxy Music than the Hives. If you imagine a bunch of people who have never heard rock music but read a lot about it, and then picked up instruments and tried to sound like what they'd read about, that's the Dirtbombs."

Collins never has "bands"—he has "projects." In the past, this 20-year veteran of the Detroit scene was notorious for zipping through groups, always eyeing his next move. After the Gories disbanded in '92, Collins played in several bands concurrently, including Blacktop and the King Sound Quartet, but the Dirtbombs have had the most staying power. "Part of the reason why the Dirtbombs have been around for 12 years is because [the lineup] changes a lot, and that keeps it interesting for me," he says. "It's not like we're doing the same thing every time we get in the studio. I work on sudden inspiration. A lot of times we've booked studio time and I won't have any songs when I walk in there. We'll sit around and talk and drink beer for an hour, and maybe I'll come up with half an idea or something. I'll take the next hour trying to get the other half of the idea. A couple more times like that and we've got a finished record. It's like standing in front of the canvas waiting for inspiration to strike you."

Even the Dirtbombs' lineup is unorthodox: two bassists, two drummers and Collins's wailing guitar topping it all off. "It seemed that nobody else was doing it," Collins says. "I tell people it's like a car with dual carburetors. Once they're in sync it's just fine, but after that point it's just hellish."

Despite the odd instrumentation and Collins's lofty goals, the Dirtbombs remain a house-rocking band in the old Detroit tradition. A few years back they followed Tortoise at the Hideout's annual Block Party—it was like following a tofu dinner with a round of Harold's fried chicken. One minute the crowd was mesmerized by Tortoise's fusiony instrumentals, then a whole new audience pushed them out of the way, ready to boogie with the 'Bombs. This is not art-rock: While the band can experiment with the best of them, it still throws down when necessary.

Collins is philosophical about his legendary status in the garage scene. "When you're 17 and you start playing in a rock band, you want to change the world like everybody else does when they pick up a guitar," he says. "Here I am, 15 years down the line, and I've become a reference point mentioned in the Washington Post. I'm just making records, looking forward to playing a show and hoping we get the water that we ask for in our rider!"

The Dirtbombs play the Electric City Rock Fest at Double Door Saturday 3.