Band of Outlaws Rocks Out Amish Style

You’re standing at an outdoor music festival. Six men dressed in traditional Amish garb - straw hats, collarless hooked shirts, suspenders with black pants - take the stage.

These six men, all of whom hail from traditional Amish upbringings in Lancaster County, Pa., now grab the microphones and launch into…

“Jump Around,” by House of Pain.

Then Snoop Dogg’s “Gin & Juice.”

And right into the Beastie Boys’ “Whatcha Want.”

Don’t worry, you haven’t accidentally ingested anything hallucinogenic. You’re just at an Amish Outlaws show.

And to understand where they came from, you must understand the Amish concept of “Rumpspringa."

At the age of 16, Amish youths are given a chance to leave their strict upbringing and experience the modern world, to see if the Amish way of life is what they truly want. This time is called “Rumspringa, which translates into English as "running around." Most Amish youths return to the church following their Rumspringa.

Some, however, do not. The members of the Amish Outlaws—Brother Amos Def, Brother Big Daddy Abel, Brother Eazy Ezekiel, Brother Hezekiah X, Brother Ishmael L Cool J , and Brother Jakob the Pipe Layer—would fall into the latter category.

According to the band’s web site, the Outlaws never met until a chance encounter at the 2002 Pocono Vacation Park "Rock and Roll Hootenanny." Brother Eazy Ezekiel says it was just about one year later, at T-Bones in Valley Cottage, N.Y., that the Amish Outlaws made their first public appearance.

“I saved every setlist from the second gig on,” Ezekiel said. “Unfortunately, not the first one, so looking at the second setlist, it was probably pretty similar. We played some songs we still do today, like "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe and "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats, though both have been re-vamped and mixed in with some other stuff. We played songs we sadly don't do anymore, like "The Ripper" by Judas Priest and "Simple Song" by Sly & The Family Stone.

“When we first started we could get away with a lot more indulgent material that we just like for what it is, as opposed to how our audience feels about it. We used to do the “Family Ties” TV theme song. I miss that one.”

Friends and family largely attended initial gigs, but crowd reaction was uniformly positive from the start. “Man, they were into it,” Ezekiel said, “and we immediately knew we were onto something.”

Eight years later, the band has become a full-time job for its members. “We just do covers,” Ezekiel said. “We have written a few original tunes. We started off as an original band and played a few covers, but by the time we did our first show, it was all covers. There was one original we used to throw in, and we wrote another for a battle of the bands contest we did at the Borgata in Atlantic City. It sounded like Herman's Hermits. No wonder we didn't win.”

You might think playing in a hip hop/metal cover band whose hook is the trappings of your former religion might lead to familial tension. But The Amish Outlaws have played as close to true Amish Country as Wyomissing and Reading, Pa., and still keep in touch with their heritage.

“I go visit as much as I can,” says Ezekiel. “Had I joined Church and then left, they would have shunned me, or if I joined another church out here. My parents wish I had joined Church, and I still get the occasional guilt trip. Not nearly as bad as it was the first few years though. At this point, they know I am happy so they don't come down on me too much.

“Of course, they wish my life wasn't so worldly, but they don't know the half of it. They'd be really worried if they did. Though, by English standards, I am pretty tame.”

The Amish Outlaws appear at the Middlesex County Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 3, from 8 to 11 p.m. For more about the band, visit www.amishoutlaws.com.