Something Wild

Two years later Vivid Imagination mates Levi Miller and Ben Williams, on guitar and bass, respectively, joined Wanush in the Wild Canadians. The group, whose current lineup also includes drummer Jed Kopp and keyboardist Bobby Waugh, began with a repertoire of two numbers Wanush originally penned for Space Mountain Sound System, but its songbook is growing. The self-deprecating Wanush is low-key about his contributions to the catalogue. "I only do what I can do. As for the tunes, I write the lyrics and I help arrange the songs. I can't write music."

Despite the passing years, Wanush hasn't lost his knack for showmanship. His new stage handle, Rey Legendario Jr., is a sequel of sorts to King Scratchie: The name means "legendary king" in Spanish. "I was going by Legendary for a while, but I decided I liked the Spanish version of the name," he says. "Good name for a guy in a band called Wild Canadians. Plus, it reminds me of my favorite wrestler, Ray Mysterio Jr., the masked Mexican wrestler of the WCW. He's only 140 pounds and five-feet-four. He wins by flying around the ring." Wanush's taste for pop culture also extends to former Spice Girl Ginger Spice. "I think Ginger had all the talent and all the cleavage--which could be the same thing as talent when you're talking about the Spice Girls."

The Cherry Bomb Club, another band to which Wanush contributes, goes to places the Spice Girls have never dared to travel. Founded by former Foreskin 500 bassist Dave Moore and featuring part-time Foreskin soul woman Erica Brown, the Club is an electronic dance band that gives Wanush another outlet for his singular delivery and infamous wit. "Erica's the diva belting out the pop goodness," Wanush enthuses. "Then there's me doing my sexy-boy raps. It's the diva and the dirtbag, pretty much." He says that most of the lyrics he writes for the Club "start as raps, because that's the way that I began singing with Warlock Pinchers. Now I'm focusing on straightforward melodies, although I use a lot of sexual innuendo on the choruses."

On this day, Wanush hardly seems capable of such ribald behavior; he's soft-spoken and taciturn, in part because he has other things on his mind. "I'm partially paralyzed in my left arm," he says. "I slept wrong, and when I woke up, my arm was asleep. The doctor said I have radial nerve palsy. They said six to eight weeks is normal recovery time, but there's no guarantee that it will ever come back." Thus far, though, he's been able to deal with the complications of his injury. "It affected my microphone hand, but I can still get a grip on it."

As the Wild Canadians prove, Wanush's musical grip is just fine, too.

The Wild Canadians. 8 p.m. Saturday, October 3, Seven South, 7 South Broadway, free, 303-744-0513.