Have you ever seen the look on someone's face the first time he rides a roller coaster? It's a mixture of abject fear, exhilaration and satisfaction. This same convoluted look might grace your mug standing in front of Devil On a Leash Friday night at Hell's Kitchen.

Bobble Tiki urges you to blow off some serious steam with twice as many drinks as you all can handle with Devil On a Leash. This band rocks, and rocks it in a roller coaster way. It's an up-and-down ride in terms of their sound. The band changes its style of rock within a set more than the City of Tacoma changes its mind on policy. That said, its heavy guitars remain a constant base.

Bobble Tiki caught up Devil On a Leash guitarist Ben Stephan before the band's show Friday.

BOBBLE TIKI: How did the members of Devil On a Leash meet?

BEN STEPHAN: Bassist Jake Nist, drummer Jeremy Kuntz and guitarist Tyson Olsen having been playing together for years. They were known as the Shadow Puppets before Jake responded to my "looking for a band" ad on craigslist.

TIKI: What's up with the name Devil On a Leash?

STEPHAN: I got the idea from "Goin' Out West" by Tom Waits.  There's a line that goes something like, "With my Olds '88 and the devil on a leash." We thought about sticking with the Shadow Puppets but wanted to go in a new direction.  We are probably going to call our first album Puppet Shadows.

TIKI: Can you nail down your sound?

STEPHEN: The musical taste of our band members is incredibly diverse and that definitely comes through in our songs. "Take It All," "Solitude" and "Steal Temple" are straight ahead heavy rock songs, while "Safeword" and "The Hatter" are spaceier and proggy. "The Outside" and "Years End" are guitar-driven pop songs. "Down the 5" has a country-blues twang. In short, if you didn't see all of us on stage playing these songs together, you would have no idea they were written by the same band.

TIKI: What do you have planned at Hell's Kitchen?

STEPHEN: We're really excited for this show. It's our fourth show at Hell's Kitchen, but our first weekend show. We are going to debut a brand new song called "Beyond my Human Side." We've only practiced it together a few times so hopefully everybody remembers the sequencing of it. We may throw in a cover somewhere as well. When we started out, we played predominately covers and the people who have been coming to our shows for a while often request us to play certain songs.

TIKI: Holiday decoration are scattered around downtown Tacoma. Will you bust out a holiday tune Friday?

STEPHAN: Probably no Christmas songs at this show. We may bust some out for our show at O'Malley's on the 17th - but only if Jeremy wears a Santa beard behind the drum kit.

TIKI: Half of Infinity is also on Friday's bill. Have you ever seen them perform?

STEPHEN: We haven't seen Half to Infinity, but if they're halfway to infinity, then they're twice the men that we are.

TIKI: Do you think dogs have lips?

STEPHEN: Of course, that's the tastiest part of a dog.  

[Hell's Kitchen, The Jet City Fix Half of Infinity and Devil On a Leash, Friday, Dec. 2, doors at 6 p.m., 21 and older, $5, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, hellskitchenonline.com]