Bright Men of Learning, despite the name, doesn’t take an overly studious approach to playing songs. The local band’s new album, Fired, feels classic but not vintage, with an efficient 10 songs custom-fitted for two sides of vinyl. The sound is as direct as the album’s title: ragged, slashing songs of punchy guitar-driven rock that suggests bands like the Replacements and Pavement, who reeled things at times when rock got a little big into bombast. The five-piece — singer/guitarist Marshall Preddy, guitarists Benjamin Davis Murphy and Chris Kahlich, bassist Johnathan Sage and drummer Jeff Senske — will play twice this weekend celebrating the album’s release. They fielded a few questions about Fired, Slayer and monarchs.

From top: Leaves on tree branches, Bright Men of Learning, tall grasses

Q: So in one sentence, what have you bright men learned since you last released an album? And did that wisdom find its way into these tunes?
Johnathan: Record more often.
Marshall: We learned three guitars is better than two. Adding Ben gave us another dimension, not only to our playing but our songwriting. Ben did a lot of editing and second guessing. And I think that made us a more interesting sounding band. Certainly there’s more to look at when you see us live. And we have all those guitarmonies now. Harmonized guitar parts. That’s what we learned.

Q: I’m always intrigued album titles that aren’t just plucked from a song title. And Fired seems like a great one open to interpretation. Care to speak to what it means to you guys? It certainly seems to fit nicely our layoff-filled times.
Marshall: Actually, we had a different working title. But it made no sense once we paired it with Rene Cook’s artwork. We did, however, have a song called Fired that obviously worked out perfectly — except for the fact that we left it off the record. That song used “fired” as a euphemism for the end of a relationship. Which is appropriate for a record full of break-up songs. In hindsight, I realize the title worked out really well. One That Matters has some biblical-style workplace violence. And most of the songs include references to literal or metaphorical fires, including the last track in which a dude dies in a fiery crash. Fired should probably have been the title all along.

Fired

Q: Was the sequencing a pain? It seems very deliberately and wonderfully paced. I admired the sort of nighttime feeling of White Sands, followed by the quieter vibe on Left Behind, In the Dark and my favorite, Richard III.
Ben: I guess that was me. I just rattled off a list of songs to everyone that sounded like they made sense and kind of forced it on everyone. I just didn’t want to get bogged down in the minutia. Just take a gut reaction and run with it.

Q: Do you have a favorite song about a prominent monarch?
Johnathan: Reaganomics Killing Me, D.R.I. Not even close, huh? God Save the Queen, Sex Pistols.
Ben: King and Caroline, Guided by Voices or maybe Queen of Eyes, the Soft Boys . . . does that count?
Marshall: Galaxie 500’s King of Spain or I’m Henry the VIII, I Am by Herman’s Hermits.
Chris: Sad Song, Velvet Underground. “I’m in love with Mary queen of Scots.”

Q: The Body Electric is an intriguing one. There’s a lot of song packed into 100 seconds or so. Can you talk a bit about its creation?
Johnathan: Reminds me of Giant Sand.
Ben: Short and sweet. Sometimes a song just needs to be a minute and a half. It just sounded right at rehearsal so why force another verse? The whole steel guitar bit was almost an afterthought. After the song was almost done I said “Let me just (mess) around with it and see what happens.” I just tried to stay out of the way of the vocals as best i could and my first take is what ended up on the record.
Chris: That’s one that I always want to replay again right when it’s done. The song came together pretty quickly. Often times we will rework a song with different approaches but that one quickly fell into its own.

Q: Were any of the other 10 songs particularly difficult to leave behind?
Ben: There was one track that we shelved due to some weird mixing issues.
Marshall: Yeah that song is called Words. We left the best song off the record due to the mixing issues Ben mentioned. But we’re going to salvage it, and release it along with some other tracks. We’ll either go back to an earlier mix or re-mix it from scratch.

Q: Any interest in engaging Slayer in a battle over rights to songs about bloody rain? Though I think theirs was of a less metaphorical nature than your Blood Rain.
Johnathan: I pushed for it to be "Blood Rayne," but I am always up for the silly stuff
Chris: We had many half-serious discussions of doing a cover photo with us doused in blood. In our mind’s eye it was hilarious.
Marshall: The words to Blood Rain are supposed to be, “see the blood drain from your eyes”. But that didn’t make for a very good title. We toyed with calling it “Blood Reign” to make fun of our own faux-metal song title. But then we would have really had some issues with Slayer.

Q: First album you bought with your own money?
Johnathan: First money spent that I recall was a 45 of Aerosmith's Sweet Emotion A-side and not sure about the B-side, I had two older brothers and music at home. Lots of albums.
Chris: I think it might’ve been Violent Femmes’ Violent Femmes. Back when BMI had you stick album stamps onto a mail-in selection sheet.
Ben: Might have been the Who, Who’s Next, but I really can’t be sure. i think my dad might have bought that for me.
Marshall: Eagles Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. On cassette. At Wal-Mart. I suppose I could say I bought Journey’s Raised on Radio first. But that was a gift for my sister.

BRIGHT MEN OF LEARNING
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Rudyard’s, 2010 Waugh
Tickets: $8 (includes download card for album) at the door

When: 3 p.m. Saturday
Where: Cactus Music, 2110 Portsmouth
Free