Mad Austin Wilcox plays stand up bass for Seattle junkyard cabaret band the Bad Things. He also plays a saw. A saw, as in felling trees and amputation. The Bad Things play gypsy punk-waltz polkas for psychotic carnies and the saw fits right in. Saw players by nature are different. They’re a rare and scarce breed. The saw as an instrument is strange to play and only fits in the periphery of a song. It sounds like a woman’s high-pitched wail, a haunted siren. It also sounds like a theremin. I mean, who plays a saw? Mad Austin Wilcox, that’s who.

The Bad Things: "Twilight" (Listen, and hear Mad Wilcox's saw)

The sound and world of a saw player is like a slow motion scene of a crocodile lurching out of water onto a pack of show poodles for a kill. It’s jarring and brutal, but in slow motion there’s a raw, backwoods majesty to the action: The red of the blood and the bright white of the quaffed dogs’ fur mixing into the side-to-side thrash of the beast’s teeth and dinosaur jaws.

Mad Austin Wilcox is with us now:

How do you play a saw? What’s the technique?

Wilcox: There’s not really a technique, it just takes a good ear and inner thigh muscles. The trick is making an S with the blade and being able to shake some part of you that's holding onto it for a vibrato effect. The handle sits between your knees and your hand goes on the other end to force the blade down and back up. You use a bow on the back of the blade. As the tension of the S increases and decreases you get different pitches. I use my right leg for a vibrato, only because it shakes best for me.

Is it as hard as it seems to get good tones and sounds?
It's a little tricky at first, but you get used to it. Mostly it's just figuring out where to bow on the blade, and at what tension.

What type of saw do you use?
My first saw was a Mussehl & Westphal musical saw, I bought it on Ebay for $40. My favorite one is a Freud English Steel crosscut saw I bought at a pawn shop for $7. The musical one is a bit easier to play, but they both sound pretty equal as far as sound quality.

Do you ever use the saw to saw off the limb of a tree, just for the hell of it?
The musical one is too dull for that kind of thing, but my other one is pretty sharp and cuts through wood like butter. A buddy of mine has some old two-man crosscut saws ranging from fifty inches to seven feet that he's been bugging me to play. I'll let you know how it goes.

Have you ever accidentally amputated anyone's leg while playing a show?
Never accidentally.

What is your set up? Do you use a pickup? Do you add effects?
Generally I just set up a regular vocal mic underneath it pointing up. I haven’t found a pickup that I liked very much, but I'm sure I haven't tried them all. I don't use much in the line of effects, but engineers have put on a little reverb here and there and that sounds pretty good.

What made you want to play the saw?
I don't really know, it just had such a great sound.

How long did it take you to learn?
I messed around without much success for a few days, then a friend of mine who knew how to play gave me some pointers, and it seemed pretty easy after that.

Is it ever weird to be carrying around a saw?
Mine has a case that it fits in with a handy shoulder strap. Looks like I'm carrying a pool cue or sawed off shotgun.

The first annual Seattle International Cabaret Festival begins tomorrow, Friday 11/6 at the Moore Theater with the Tiger Lillies. The Bad Things play the after party at the Can Can. (Doors for the after party are at 10PM.)

The Bad Things also play Friday the 13th at ACT Theater for Cabaret Macabre.