"You know, I've been on my own since I was about 14. No one ever gave me shit, everything I ever got I either worked for, hustled or just took. I might not have ever had lofty goals, but every goal I ever had I have achieved," he continued. "I love hearing that bands are still just going out there and doing it, totally D.I.Y. , it takes bravery to do that.

"I knew I wasn't going to ever be rich or famous making songs with the subject matter I do, no matter if it's sarcasm, satire, subtext or sincerity. That's not why I did it, and it's not why I'm still doing it."

I shared with Cancerslug's Story my own, er, Cancerslug story, of how I traveled to San Antonio last year to catch his act live. The show was loud, sweaty and scary fun, like moshing to a midnight viewing of Evil Dead.

Afterward, a fight broke out in the parking lot, with a San Antonio thug actually punching one of our friends -- a woman -- in the face.

"The thing is, when you deal with pure emotion as an art form, you stir these extremes in people," Story relates. "Some people can handle it, some can't. In the same way that we can all read a poem or see a painting or movie and all draw different meanings based on our own personal baggage. The more abstract the art form is, the more the viewer ends up seeing more of himself than the actual art.

"So, any violence caused by individuals at our performances usually has more to do with those individuals not being able to handle the reality of true emotional release," he continues. "Similar to how Bertrand Russell said, 'A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.'

"As an artist, my job is to do the best work I can, and my work is to harness real emotion," Story says. "It's not my problem if other people don't know what to do with those emotions."

Furthermore, Story said those isolated instances pale next to "the amount of Cancerslug fans who draw joy and hope from the kindred feeling of belonging to the very small group who understand; and, what they understand is that everyone is full of shit, myself included. Me, you, them, whoever. Human nature itself, our very survival and evolution as a species and as a society actually depended on us being full of shit."

The Slugcult shares a pack mentality at shows, and Story is the undisputed leader. He almost seems wolf-like onstage. Again, it's by design.

"I want it to be an experience, more like looking into a great storm, a force of nature, or stumbling upon an alpha predator in the wild," he says of Cancerslug's live shows. "While there may be an appreciation for the purity and majesty you are seeing, mostly there is awe or fear as you stand helpless in the gaze of death's tyranny and the rush of adrenalin as the survival instinct spikes. That is pure emotion.

"To me, great music can change the entire atmosphere and mood of a room," Story adds. "You take people to extreme highs and fathomless lows. This is our aim. It's one brief moment that you get to take off those masks you wear and shed the skins of those social robots you play to survive this life and return to your natural state, dancing around the fire, summoning the old gods, releasing your inner animal self.

"And, for one night, you will be free."

Cancerslug returns to Houston Sunday at Eastdown Warehouse, 850 McKee. Molotov Compromise and Days N Daze open. Doors open at 8 p.m., all ages, $7.

ROCKS OFF'S GREATEST HITS

The Ask Willie D Archives Top 10 Bars, Clubs & Ice Houses On the Northside Top 10 Bars, Clubs & Ice Houses In the Galleria Area The 10 Lamest Bands of the '90s