The Pimps will hit downtown DeKalb Friday night.

We’re not talking about canes, chalices and velvet suits, but more like guitars, amps, drum sets and a band named The Pimps.

The Rockford-based quintet will play a show tomorrow night at Otto’s Niteclub, 118 E. Lincoln Highway.

To quote the band’s press kit, “If Tenacious D and Fugazi had a baby, it would be called Fugacious D. And The Goodyear Pimps would be the bastard stepchildren of Fugacious D.”

Otto’s manager Jeremy Eisenberg said part of that correlation is true.

“I don’t know if they sound like Fugazi, but they are definitely the bastard child of something,” Eisenberg said.

As far as venues go, Otto’s is tops for The Pimps.

“The place is a band’s dream, the set-up caters to live music and we always do well financially when we play there,” bassist Tony Crisman said.

Friday’s show at Otto’s is just one of the approximately 150 shows The Pimps play in the course of a year. Over the course of the band’s 10-year career, The Pimps have played at Otto’s a number of times. Crisman attributes the repeat performances to the people involved.

“From [the manager] on down, the place is a band’s dream. All the people who work there treat us with the utmost respect,” Crisman said.

If you can’t catch the show on Friday, The Pimps will be back in town on Dec. 3 for anothershow, in addition to headlining the performance at Otto’s New Year’s Eve Bash.

Weekender had the opportunity to grab a phone interview with bassist Tony Crisman.

Weekender: Does playing music ever get old? Is the excitement still there like it was 10 years ago?

Tony Crisman: Of course there is a human element; you do it so much, the giddiness and excitement of when we were younger isn’t the same. As a band we joke about having to play a show at The House [263 E. Lincoln Highway] and showing up around noon for a show that was at eight or nine. A friend told me, ‘don’t spend 23 hours of your day preparing just to play one.’ Sometimes you have to grin and bear it, but overall you love it; the good always outweighs the bad.

WE: Anything crazy ever happen to you guys on the road?

TC: We have had our run-ins with the law in clubs and the occasional tire slashing from another pissed-off band. But there isn’t something that happened that is ‘the craziest thing.’

WE: Has the band ever been close to calling it quits?

TC: No, not even close. We have always thought that we were going to do this until it isn’t fun anymore. I hope we are smart enough to know when it has exhausted itself. As long as music keeps coming out, we’ll keep doing what we love. We create music in all different genres: country, hip-hop, etc… The only thing close to a break-up conversation were the talks of maybe lightening up our schedule to make room for some additional hours at work.

WE: You mentioned different genres like country. Do The Pimps perform country songs?

TC: We have a handful of old school country covers we’ll do from time to time. But Stu [guitar/vocals] just finished a whole country album. Not pop-country like you hear on the radio, but old school, legit, outlaw country – Waylon [Jennings] and Johnny [Cash] stuff. We recently put a studio in our basement. We went out and bought the pods and Pro Tools so we could take our ideas and essentially manifest them by pushing a space bar.

WE: What’s with the name?

TC: Originally we were called The Six Million Dollar Band. But a band down south was using it, and they didn’t give us the rights. So we went with The Goodyear Pimps. Then Goodyear had some problems with us using it, so we ended up unofficially changing names to The Pimps. There was another band using the same name, but we actually just got the trademark to the name The Pimps in the mail. We really don’t like the connotation of The Pimps. Goodyear Pimps is so much lighter. But in the end, a name is just a name.

What: The Pimps, The 9 Spot, Gingerjake

Where: Otto’s Niteclub, 118 E. Lincoln Highway

When: Friday: doors open at 9 p.m., show at 10 p.m.

Cost: $5

More Info: www.thepimps.org