by JOHNSON CUMMINS

One of the worst genre names ever has to be "stoner rock." Emo is laughable, screamo is just downright nauseating, but stoner rock really takes the cake. It conjures up images of greasy longhairs in construction boots, sprawled in a smoky rec room somewhere, sharing bong hits while Sabbath riffs pour out of the stereo.

Okay, I said it was a bad name. I didn't say it wasn't accurate.

One Montrealer who's been flying the stoner rock flag high is Navajo Code Talkers drummer Mucky Pup. He's also the Riff Rock Festival organizer, and just chuffed to tell you about it. "I do it because I love it. So far I've lost money on each one but it's getting better and better every year. My dream is to finally have an outdoor festival with a lot of riff rock bands because, with a lot of people getting sick of skate rock and emo, it just keeps getting more and more popular."

The third year of the festival also provides the platform for the release of the debut CD from Mucky's band, with the utterly retardo-genius title Heavy Dirty Sounds - a title that actually came to him in a dream. The Navajo Code Talkers dodge the typical stoner-rock band's garden-variety Sabbath riffing, and feature two ladies in the band (it's a genre usually dominated by males) and the unlikely baritone sax. "People will see us with the sax and think, ‘Oh no, not another ska band,' but after they see us they're usually pretty into it and always tell us how surprised they were."

Although the term "stoner rock" gives even Mucky the heebie-jeebies, he describes it as music that is "trippy yet heavy." So if Mucky is Montreal's ambassador of stoner rock, riff rock or whatever, he must be smoking his weight in weed, right? "Actually, I used to smoke a lot of pot, then I switched to hash and now I don't smoke at all."

At Café Chaos on Friday, Aug. 27 (Navajo Code Talkers, Surcharge, Steeltow) and Saturday, Aug. 28 (Action Over Drive, Fiftywatthead, Dutch Oven), 9 p.m., $6 or $10 for both shows

>> Music Listings