New pop rockers Dexter Freebish came through town Wednesday with Everlast in an effort to promote its release “A Life of Saturdays.”

The record is the band’s first major label release and has gotten quite a warm reception from the music world. Its single, “Leaving Town,” is receiving airplay throughout the country on radio, and the video is just breaking onto VH1 and M2, MTV’s sister station. The song also won “Song of the Year” in the 1999 John Lennon Songwriting Contest.

The five-year-old quintet is from Austin, Texas and features Chris Lowe on bass and vocals, Rob Schilz on drums, Kyle on lead vocals, Scott Romig on guitar and keyboard and Charles Martin on lead guitar and vocals.

Guitarists Martin and Romig took some time before the show to talk a little about the band, the road experience with Everlast, different shows they’ve played, the record and about music in general.

Martin talked about what first got him excited about music.

“I remember being at show-and-tell in sixth grade. My friend brought in a guitar and he had a presentation on his guitar,” he said. “I remember thinking ‘that is the coolest thing in the world.’ ” Martin has been a guitar player ever since.

“For me it was a Neil Diamond concert when I was seven,” Romig said. He added that he saw Diamond for the next three years in a row. “By the time I was 10 I wanted to be Neil Diamond.”

The two guitarists also cite a variety of influences on their music.

“A lot of the British Invasion stuff in the ’60s,” Martin said. “Like Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townsend, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and a lot of the classic rockers.”

Martin also added that he was really into a few of the newer artists as well.

“I like William Orbit, Osric Tentacle is a band from London, and DJ Greyboy from San Diego,” he said.

Romig added that his biggest influence was U2.

“My guitar playing comes from the Edge school of thought on guitar, trying to make a guitar not sound like a guitar,” he said.

Some of the band’s more interesting performances include VH1’s Lift Ticket to Ride show at the Sundance Film Festival and the opening of the John Lennon wing of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

Romig said meeting Yoko Ono was one of the more interesting things the band has done.

“We were a little nervous about the whole thing, ’cause it was a black tie event,” he said. “She (Ono) gets on stage and screams for like 15 minutes straight.”

Although startled, after that the band felt relaxed.

“We felt like it was okay for us to rock,” Martin said.

Martin and Romig agreed that the best show they played was last September in Charlotte at the Weenie Roast.

“We played with Stone Temple Pilots, Papa Roach, The Cult,” Romig said.

According to both Romig and Martin, the worst show ever was Oxford, Mich. in the summer of 1999.

“There were two people there and they were both from Germany and they were on like a biking expedition tour through America,” Romig said.

“But they loved it, they bought a CD and said they were gonna take it back to Germany and play it for their friends,” Martin said.

Oxford is a rather large college town, but the timing was all wrong.

“I guess we were in between summer sessions, and it was a Monday night,” Martin said. “The whole town was dead.”

The band also played a bowling alley in Moleen, Illinois about two weeks ago.

“We were shoehorned in this corner of the bar and a cover band played after us,” Martin said.

The shows on this tour are quite different from the shows the band is accustomed to playing.

“We’re finding that the crowd is older,” Martin said.

Romig added that although it’s not their typical audience, it’s good for the band.

“We’re definitely hitting a new market,” he said.

The show is Everlast’s tour, and the fan base isn’t necessarily one that would typically listen to a band like Dexter Freebish.

“Sometimes the crowd is snarling ‘show me what you can do,’ ” Romig said.

The band sounds much different live than it does on its recording. The music sounds stiffer and more harsh than the polished feel of the album. Romig said he felt the music lost something in the finishing process.

“If there was one thing about the album that I was disappointed by, it was the mixing,” he said.

“You expect certain things to come out of it, then you hand it off to someone across the country to mix it down for you and it comes back a little less inspiring than it did when you went into it,” Martin said.

As a whole, the show was mediocre. Dexter Freebish sounded good, but not great, and the audience just wasn’t into their style of near-indie pop.

Everlast performed his hit from the House of Pain days, “Jump Around,” but that was the highlight of the show. His choice of set seemed subdued and less energetic than what it could have been. He played his big singles, mangled Marvin Gaye’s “Trouble Man,” and punctuated the rest of his performance with a few slower songs. All in all, the experience was less than stellar.

Dexter Freebish will be touring extensively for the next year, staying on with Everlast for the next month or two and maybe even starting a tour with SR-71.

The band is hoping to get in the studio to record its follow-up to “A Life of Saturdays,” assuring that this will not be the last we hear of Dexter Freebish.

“For a debut album, we made a good one,” Romig said. “I think we’ve got more tricks up our sleeve for the second one.”