Drivin' Rain hits the road for South Texas Rock Festival

Timexx Nasty and his rocked-out team have made it to the Super Bowl of metal bands.

Since the Cape Girardeau band's birth in 1994, Drivin' Rain has been a constant road force, performing on the same stage with the likes of Skid Row, Steppenwolf, Jim Dandy's Black Oak Arkansas and Eddie Money. Now, the vocalist said, the band has been confirmed to play its biggest show yet: Saturday at the South Texas Rock Festival in San Antonio.

"This truly is the Super Bowl for '80s hair bands, just look at the lineup and anyone can see that," Nasty said. "The great part about this is we get to be one of only a few unsigned bands at this thing. That says something about us right there, and it may say something about how hard we've worked to get here."

Drivin' Rain will play alongside hair rock stalwarts Tesla, Queensryche, Dokken, Jackyl and many others. The expected attendance for the San Antonio festival is more than 40,000 people per day — slightly more than the entire population of Cape Girardeau.

"This is something that you point to and know you're going somewhere," lead guitarist Michael Stewart said. "And the fans have been great, calling about tickets from all over the country. We're going to have people coming from everywhere lined up rockin' out for us."

Stewart said Bill Shivelbine even custom-designed his guitar for the event.

"I can't thank him enough because it makes you feel a little Van Halen-like when you pick it up. It's so sweet," Stewart said. "It's like a mirrored guitar with a great feel to it. It makes you stop and stare and listen."

Nasty, Stewart, bassist Skully Shemwell and drummer Geep Clark are also working on a follow-up album to 2007's "Delightfully Evil" and hope to release it soon.

"We've been working in the recording studio in Memphis with the great Andy Tanas, and I think we're coming up with some good stuff," Nasty said. "The important thing is to stay true to our music and no matter what we do keep with the Drivin' Rain spirit. We've had some hard battles, but come through and now look where we are."

For South Texas Rock Festival ticket information visit www.southtexasrockfest.com. For more about Drivin' Rain, including tour dates and music, visit www.myspace.com/drivinrain.