by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“Feel free to hold it against us,” says guitarist Shawny Petsche, explaining that three quarters of his band are from the West Island. “It’s better if people come in with low expectations.”

Self-deprecation seems to be the default setting for the Adam Brown, whose bio claims they’re only a rock band because they couldn’t cut it playing country. Petsche is more than willing to praise his bandmates, however, namely “adorable” bassist Matt Foster, “perfect” drummer Marc-André Grondin and “amazing” singer-songwriter Adam Brown. When Petsche first heard Brown’s solo country compositions, he says, “I told him that he had to get a record out and get a band together to start playing live,” and within months, Brown did just that, releasing an LP’s worth of late-night home recordings, Even the Skies Are Blue (on WIBI Records), and gathering friends (initially including Hexes and Ohs’ Edmund Lam on drums) to join him on stage. But Brown’s largely mellow, moving ditties bear little resemblance to the soulful power pop combo that the Adam Brown has become.

“From the first jam, we were starting to play amped-up versions of the songs, and new songs that were a little poppier, a little rockier,” says Petsche. “You can totally trace it: We were a country band one show, the next show there were a couple more rock songs, a guitar solo snuck in at one point, then three guitar solos.”

Those new songs, as recorded by producer extraordinaire Howard Bilerman, will be titled either Damn Right I Cry or Lightnin’ Lightnin’, released either independently or by one of the gangs of suits that have been shadowing the band. Petsche believes that Montreal-scene hype is partly responsible for the bigwig interest, whereas their debut on Pitchfork was purely accidental.

“They put up a picture of us because they thought we were Wolf Parade,” says Petsche, a moderator at the Montrealshows.com Web site. As for those suits, he says, “We’re surprised when anyone likes our music, but we’re hopeful that [the Montreal connection’s] not the reason people are interested. If it is, hey, I’ve got tuition to pay, so hopefully we didn’t miss the boat.”

The Adam Brown is equally conflicted about capitalizing on another connection, the fact that their drummer is the young vedette who co-starred in Jean-Marc Vallée’s hit film, C.R.A.Z.Y.

“We all went to see it to laugh at [Grondin], and as the movie finished we were kinda wiping away tears. Then the next time we saw him, we had to give him a really big hug. That was a little weird.”

He says Grondin has wisely avoided name-dropping the band in the francophone media, though Petsche is happy to recommend C.R.A.Z.Y. to us anglos—it’s out now on DVD, and a forthcoming special edition includes Adam Brown music in the special features.

He also comments that cultivating an audience based on the film is pointless because Grondin’s day job is bound to overtake his commitment to the band eventually. “He’s got quite the career ahead of him—he might hear the calling pretty soon.”

For now, however, the Adam Brown’s fanbase is slowly, slightly expanding thanks to their drummer’s cinematic success (and Google). “There has been a definite increase in the number of young francophone girls at our shows. They’re good Internet searchers.”

With Dorian Hatchet and Harmony Trowbridge at the Friendship Cove on Saturday, Dec. 10, 9 p.m., $6

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