Minneapolis guitar hero Brian Setzer brings his new international rockabilly trio to his hometown

Brian Setzer formed his first rock trio, Stray Cats, with two other guys from his neighborhood in New York's Long Island. The guitarist/singer, who now calls Minneapolis home, formed his latest trio with a guy from Australia and another from Mexico.

Aussie bassist Chris D'Rozario talked his way into the Brian Setzer Orchestra several years ago.

"You've got to be a rockin' guy who can read music. He actually didn't. He memorized everything," Setzer said. "And then when I threw an audible, I heard something going wrong, and it was Chris 'cause he was faking it. But I admired his tenacity, so I stuck with him."

Then Setzer discovered drummer Juan Laurios online, playing with a Phoenix band called the Quakes.

"He stands up like Slim Jim [Phantom, of Stray Cats]," Setzer said the day before he left for his Rockabilly Riot Tour this fall. "He's from Mexico City, of all places. So I've got an international rockabilly band, which is a surprise to me because I never thought I'd get this music out of my [Long Island] driveway. Now it's all over the world."

Setzer will introduce his new trio Friday in Minneapolis, his home base for the past two decades. He used to kick off his holiday tours with the Brian Setzer Orchestra at the State Theatre; this time he'll wrap up his tour there.

"I wanted to end here because I'm going to have a big party," he said. "I probably know half the people who come to the show at this point. Everybody wants to go backstage, like there's something special. It's just a big concrete room. So why don't we just have a party after the show and everybody comes back."

The band will showcase material from Setzer's new album, "The Devil Always Collects," a vibrant and varied showcase for his formidable guitar expressions, and 2021's "Gotta Have the Rumble" and, of course, hits from Stray Cats, those 1980s rockabilly revivalists who became MTV favorites.

"This album has taken more of a psychobilly turn, more of a dark rockabilly," said Setzer, comparing "Devil" to "Rumble."

"Girl on the Billboard" gallops like vintage Johnny Cash on speed, "One Particular Chick" jumps, jives and swings and "The Devil Always Collects" romps with punkish fervor. "Psycho Suzie" salutes a now-shuttered wildly quirky Minneapolis bar and "Black Leather Jacket" shares rock 'n' roll memories. A cover of Nick Lowe's "Play That Fast Thing (One More Time)" just flat-out rocks.

Not having toured for four years, Setzer found himself at home in his suburban Minneapolis home. At least, he had his guitars.

"Songs happen. I can't control that. A guitar riff comes into my head. It comes from just noodling around on guitar. If it kind of excites me, I'll continue on that track. If it doesn't work out, I'll record it quickly on an old-fashioned cassette recorder and I also write it out musically."

Some songs start with lyrics from longtime collaborator Mike Himelstein, emailed from California, who teamed up on five new tracks including "Rock Boys Rock," "What'll It Be, Baby Doll" and "The Devil Always Collects."

Setzer penned "Black Leather Jacket" all by himself.

"I was looking at my old Stray Cats black leather jacket. It's a little tight now. It probably shrunk. Wink, wink," he said. "This jacket — I've had it 40 years — I'm going to write a song about it. It's got flames on the back and patches I sewed on it. I've got several leather jackets because I ride [motorcycles]. It was in my storage; I've still got a lot of the old Stray Cats outfits."

"Psycho Suzie," co-written with his singer/wife Julie Reiten Setzer, was sparked by visits to a once-popular tiki bar in northeast Minneapolis.

"My wife goes, 'You should write a song about that.' I go: 'You start it off.' So she started writing lyrics and I chipped in."

The cover is Setzer's tattoo

The album cover of "The Devil Always Collects" stems from an old Setzer collaboration with the folks at Classic Tattoo in Fullerton, Calif. — a large depiction of beelzebub between the singer's shoulders.

"I've never shown my back. It's just a private thing," he said. "It was a fun backstage thing in Japan. All the Japanese guys, the real bad boys, had their back tattoos. So we all took off our shirts for a picture."

With a little photoshopping, Setzer cropped the others out of the photo and — voila — a cover that he genuinely loves.

Befitting Setzer's retro-loving style, he uses language on "The Devil Always Collects" like "baby doll" and "chick" that might not be PC these days.

"That's just rock 'n' roll. I haven't had any complaints," said the blond with the ever-cool pompadour, who portrayed Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Eddie Cochran in the 1987 Ritchie Valens biopic "La Bamba." "Rock 'n' roll should be — and always has been — a bit abrasive. It's not supposed to go down smooth. It is what it is."

His hairdo and sounds are modernized versions of styles from the '50s and '60s. What year does he live in in his head?

"This may sound kind of corny but I have old-time manners. Being kind to people. I never want to change," he explained. "If someone is rude to me, I don't want to be rude back, no matter how tempting it is. So in that way I'm old-fashioned.

"But I like using all the things available to me as far as recording and living day-to-day life. I mean I'm not using a 1950s washing machine. Some people do, they live in a distinct little world. There's a reason why people use 1950s guitars and microphones, some of the most expensive in the world. People swear they have a magic, that they were made better."

Speaking of what's in his head, how about the tinnitus — the debilitating ringing in his ears — that forced him to take an extended break that coincided with the pandemic?

"It's under control. It doesn't go away. I think your brain gets used to it. If it doesn't, you'll go off the deep end," he said, sounding like he's slowly made peace with it. "It took a while. A couple years ago, the doctor said, 'You can't play, you have to give it a rest.' I [since] tried a couple shows and made a record and it seems to be OK.

"You just have to live with it. When I ride motorcycles, it definitely goes up. On the bikes, I wear earplugs. You've got to learn to live with a lot of things. I still stand in front of a loud guitar amp for a living."

Setzer's ears won't prevent him from restarting Stray Cats, who did a 40^th anniversary album and reunion tour in 2019.

"Stray Cats are going to play next summer because I had a really good tour with the guys and had a lot of fun. At 64, I'm doing OK and I want to have fun."

As for the Brian Setzer Orchestra resuming its popular Christmas run that ended in 2018 after a 15-year run, he's not optimistic right now.

"The big band is a big expensive undertaking at this point," he said. "Everybody wants it again, though, but I don't know if it's affordable with everything the way it is. I might have to get back to you on that."

Brian Setzer

Opening: Yates McKendree.

When: 8 p.m. Fri.

Where: State Theatre, 805 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls.

Tickets: $54 and up, ticketmaster.com.