The Bloodhound Gang. While the name may not be immediately familiar, the music should be. With hits like, "Fire Water Burn" and lyrics like "You and me baby ain’t nothing but mammals/So let’s do it like they do on The Discovery Channel" from the single, "The Bad Touch," the Pennsylvania-based band has more than made a few heads turn — and more than once created some controversy.

Together since 1993, the band met while attending college in Philadelphia and have spent much of the past decade carving their own niche in the music industry. Described by Rolling Stone as "the love child of Weezer and Weird Al Yankovic" The Bloodhound Gang has released three albums, including their most recent, this year’s Hooray for Boobies, all of which boast the band’s patented mix of punk rock, hip hop, and heavy metal and have canvassed a wide variety of often funny, largely low brow topics, ranging from sex (and more sex) and boredom to porn stars and marijuana, among a litany of other things.

On-and-off the road for most of the past year, the band will stop at Lancaster’s Chameleon Club on November 25 as part of their final leg of the Hooray for Boobies tour before taking some time off to write and record their next album — a release that promises to be just as hyperactive and purposely disjointed, if not somewhat offensive to some, as the previous efforts. And, not surprisingly, the band is quite like a real-life mirror of their music — a continuous bounce from one hysterical and often outrageous topic to the next. But is there anything behind the frat boy humor?

Bassist Evil Jared Hasselhoff joined The Bloodhound Gang in 1995 following the lukewarm reception of Use Your Fingers, the debut album from the band’s original line-up. Dropped by their label after the release of the album and faced with the departure of some of its members, frontman Jimmy Pop and guitarist Lupus Thunder, picked up the pieces and reorganized the band, bringing Hasselhoff, DJ Q-Ball, and drummer Spanky G (who has since been replaced by Willie the New Guy) on board. And it’s been a seemingly controlled, though tornado-like, chaos ever since.

Recently, MODE had the opportunity to experience what it’s like to be inside the eye of the storm and quickly learned that talking to Hasselhoff is like talking to the Magic Eight Ball — you can ask a serious question, you just never know what answer you’re going to get.

"We were in college together and we just got together," said Hasselhoff, describing the band’s start in less than one breath, before quickly breaking into a diatribe on the purported drug habits of Lancaster’s Amish, a sign that the interview was heading downhill — and fast. It was evident early on that neither the band, nor the bassist, take themselves all that seriously. And it’s good to know that they don’t take their music too seriously, either, even when being complimented for their musical skills, "I don’t know if you’ve listened to the last album, but that is not musical talent," he said, in a serious, yet mocking, tone. "It doesn’t take talent to be able to know three notes. I know kindergarten kids who can play bass better than me."

The rest of the conversation followed in just fashion, often with side-splitting spells of laughter as Hasselhoff responded to question after question with his own version of an answer. And, all comic tidings aside, the answers sometimes revealed just as much about Hasselhoff as the rote answers that would have most likely been given by any other musician.

There’s something to be said for speaking what’s on your mind. And that’s exactly what makes Hasselhoff affable rather than obnoxious. Hasselhoff’s favorite song is not, in fact, one included in The Bloodhound Gang’s catalogue: "I would probably say, ‘Crazy Train.’ Or maybe ‘Don’t Take Your Guns to Town,’ that’s a good one. And ‘Ring of Fire’ is pretty good." Hasselhoff does not really wish to record a song on the group’s next album with the members of the boy band *NSYNC, refuting the sentiment expressed in a Rolling Stone interview by guitarist Lupus Thunder: "I hope not," he said, "the rest of the guys think we should, but…" And, to be sure, if Hasselhoff is a man of his word, he will never be a permanent citizen of the Golden State and definitely not an owner of a mansion in the Hollywood Hills. No, Hasselhoff likes Pennsylvania — granted, for his own reasons — just fine: "[L.A.] sucks. Traffic all the time. Beer is like five bucks … But beer at the bar across the street from my house? Still a dollar. Try to find a beer for less than three bucks in L.A. — it ain’t gonna happen."

Mansion on the hill or not, Hasselhoff and The Bloodhound Gang have found a place for themselves and their creations in the music industry. "Fire Water Burn," the single from the band’s sophomore effort, 1996’s One Fierce Beer Coaster, was the most requested song on alternative radio that year and "The Bad Touch" has been played so much on mainstream radio and cable music channels like MTV since its release that even Hasselhoff is a tad tired of the song, especially since it is the one song that many in the audience count on hearing at a Bloodhound Gang show. "I was tired of singing it 12 months ago," he said, only laughing a little.

Still, the band enjoys the success that comes with sharing their sense of humor — equal parts off the wall and parody — with the world. But, as always, with success comes controversy. And The Bloodhound Gang is no stranger to either — especially when some of their most successful songs include lyrics and situations that are not beyond being offensive to a variety of people of various ethnic backgrounds and lifestyles. Throughout their career, the band has been criticized by a number of associations and organizations, including the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) who took offense with the lyrics and accompanying video of "The Bad Touch." Just this spring, a group of students protested the group’s performance at the University of Maryland. Angry over some of the band’s lyrical content, the students felt having the band perform at the University was akin to encouraging and promoting the behavior in question. The concert went on as scheduled. Hasselhoff and company took that controversy — and the others like it — in stride, maybe even to the point of using what could’ve been a public relations nightmare to the band’s benefit — think: any publicity is good publicity. "I like them," he said of the band’s detractors. "I think it’s good to have them. We’ve tried to get on MTV News and in USA Today for years, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to publicists and having nothing but failure. But have a bunch of [groups] bitch about us being racist, and the next thing you know: USA Today, MTV News."

But like anything in music, today’s hit can too often be yesterday’s flash in the pan. And while there is no sign of that in sight for The Bloodhound Gang, Hasselhoff is conscious of the fact that sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. Will it be possible to continue to create music that will live up to the sound and lyrical quality of their previous works?

"I’d say we’ll do about two more albums before we cash it in," he said, in response to that question. "I didn’t think we had enough [material] for the last three, but we put those out. So, sure, two more? It’s no problem."

Who knows if what Hasselhoff says in fun is the straight-out truth. Still, he says it, and, even though it was a phone interview, it was fairly convincing that he was saying it with a straight face. What is the straight-up truth is that, for now, the band is finishing up life on the road — "we’re in a band, we live on a bus … I can’t complain about it" — and is looking forward to recording the next album — with or without a pairing with the aforementioned boy band, as the vote is obviously still out on that decision.

The interview ended with both parties unscathed. And though it was somewhat lengthy, the vote is also still out on whether the persona that is ‘Evil Jared’ ever takes a breather. No matter. Life is good for Hasselhoff and the band. The tornado-like chaos that is The Bloodhound Gang seems nowhere near winding down. And, while the future of the band will no doubt be every bit the roller coaster ride that the climb to the top was, complete with success and controversy, the outcome of the next album and the next few years is just as questionable as asking the Magic Eight Ball — or Evil Jared Hasselhoff — a serious question and expecting a serious answer. Will their music have lasting power? "Time will tell." Will the next album do well? "Outlook good." Will The Bloodhound Gang continue to have fun? "Without a doubt."