KALAMAZOO — Gods Of Kansas is a band tired of the dark, morbid side of rock music that gained prominence in the early 1990s through the new millennium. Music, in the band's mind, is supposed to be ruckus and celebratory.

That is why the Kalamazoo quartet forwent the introverted undertones of grunge and nu-metal and wrote music that harked back to 80s rock bands like Motley Crue, Ratt and Poison.

"I think rock 'n' roll is coming back in force," said drummer Danny Hough. "That big show, escape from reality rock 'n' roll is coming back. People miss that.

"Grunge was really terrible for music," he said. "It showed a lot of depression. You feel things from music. If you go feel a bunch of depression and a bunch of anger, that's not fun. You go listen to good rock 'n' roll that's fun and you'll have a good time."

The band, rounded out by Reo Youngs on bass and brother Chris Youngs on rhythm guitar and Mutt Buerge lead guitar, plays music that is fast and heavy, with quick chops and sharp, melodic licks from the lead guitar.

"A lot of our stuff is written as rhythm and blues," Chris Youngs explained. "Then it gets kicked in the ass with, like, steroids and whiskey and ends up high-powered."

The musicians call on a variety of influences, from classic rock to 80s metal to rockabilly.

"It's when we all come together and start putting the songs together and we pull from all those influences that we get that Gods Of Kansas sound," Chris Youngs said.

The point of most GOK songs, the musicians said, is to entertain, rather than explore angst-ridden emotions.

"There's some songs of ours that tell stories and there's other songs that are just a general idea or concept," Chris Youngs said. "We're kind of bass-ackwards when it comes to that. A lot of bands will write lyrics and then find riffs to fit into the song. We get riffs from jamming. Then, if we end up with a heavy song, we talk about something upbeat or in-your-face. If it's something slow and raunchy it might be something sexier. A lot of our songs cover a wide variety of topics, but a lot of it just what rock 'n' roll can do for you."

GOK also brought back the high-energy, flashing lights, costumed theatrics of 80s rock.

"We'll wear leather to sweet 16-year-old birthday parties," Reo Youngs said with a laugh. "We do everything but pyro. We bring a show every time we walk in."

The band, taking its name from a magazine cover about aliens, formed in 2004, after Reo Youngs and Beurge moved to Kalamazoo from Clinton County in search of a "bigger city."

"Of course, we found out it wasn't as big as we thought it was," Reo Youngs said.

Still, the band has found success. After going through several lineup changes, the band settled on its current lineup at the end of 2006. It has released two albums and is currently recording a third at Kalamazoo's Brown & Brown Studios. It expects to release that album in May.

It has one national tour under its belt and has plans for another. In October, the group signed to the Lexington, Ky.-based Blast Zone Entertainment Group, which will distribute the forthcoming album.

"Our music and our live show has taken us far on the business side of this band," Hough said.

While preparing for a busy year in 2008, the group said it's ambitions are simple.

"If I can do what I love and support myself, then I'll be content," Buerge said. "Of course, when I get that, then I'll probably want to push it farther and a little farther, and a little farther."

Justin A. Hinkley can be reached at 966-0698 or jhinkley@battlecr.gannett.com.