Seattle is hardly known for its array of heavy classic rock, what with all the fancy- (and tight-) pants pop bands prancing around the streets these days, but Port Orchards' Mos Generator are doing their damnedest to finally shift the local music scene's attention from all that is cute to all that is killer.

Since 2000, Shawn Johnson (drums), Scooter Haslip (bass), and Tony Reed (guitar/vocals/keyboards) have been establishing a small following by playing bar shows around the city and blowing away onlookers with their brutally dynamic wall of sound. Taking a cue from artists such as Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, and Black Sabbath, Mos Generator create the kind of music you might hear if you were a 15-year-old from 1967 lying on your bed with a pair of headphones. You let yourself get swept up in the sonic intricacies that can only be appreciated by someone who's feeling it rather than thinking about it too much (i.e., you're stoned out of your gourd).

But Mos Generator's music is smarter than your average stoner rock. The band's full-length, The Late Great Planet Earth, opens with "On the Eve," an epic seven-minute psych-rock adventure that doesn't even introduce vocals until well after two minutes of intro. From there, the tunes bleed into one another, never harshing your mellow by abruptly claiming a beginning or an end of their own. You can get lost forever... or until your mom busts into your room wondering what you're doing.

To get into the spirit of Mos Generator's head-spinning sound, you may want to grow your hair long and dig up that old Judas Priest T-shirt.

megan@thestranger.com