Don't let anyone tell you that Americans have no sense of irony.

The Hackensaw Boys claim to "take showers every month whether we need them or not", modify their set lists by consuming varying amounts of Red Bull and punctuate their intimate gigs with circus-scale theatrics.

"We're not like Van Halen or anything," says guitarist Shiner. "But there is the part of the show where we have some rocket fire and Mahlon swings over the crowd on a trapeze."

"Yes, I have a special leotard which I wear," says mandolin player Mahlon.

"But it's not, like, over the top or anything," says Shiner. "Now that I think about it," concludes Mahlon, "we are quite like Van Halen."

Although it's pretty tricky getting a straight answer out of them (the jury's still out on whether Shiner, who's missing a little finger, lost it to a Mafia debt or a hack 'n' sawing incident), The Hackensaw Boys are, on record, wholly sincere.

A bluegrass six-piece from the Blue Ridge of Virginia, on fourth album Love What You Do they eschew the hillbilly pastiche popularised by the likes of Hayseed Dixie in favour of playful honesty (Kiss You Down There), voracious knees-ups (Canonball) and simple beauty (Alabama Shamrock).

"We seem to have a pretty broad spectrum of fans," says Shiner. "We've done tours where we've played for a kindergarten class one night, old people in a retirement home the next and then in a punk rock club.

"And of course we've done many, many shows on the streets. The weirdest place we played was the Silverlake Lounge in Los Angeles, which is a transexual Latino bar by day and a rock club by night. We played it at night but there's a transition period."

"The group which opened for us," Mahlon continues, "was a very drunk girl in a mermaid outfit playing very badly with two boys in sailor's suits sitting behind her and drinking big bottles of liquor."

With a sound described as the Ramones meets the Carter Family and a secret weapon in the form of the Charismo ("Salvage, our spoon player's invention it's a combination of a percussion instrument and a work of art"), The Hackensaw Boys have toured from Nashville to the Netherlands and now hope to win fans on their first visit to the UK.

"I'm a big Graham Greene fan," says Mahlon. "But it's the first time we've ever been to Brighton".

"Does that excite you Mahlon?" asks Shiner. "I'm so excited I can hardly sit down," says Mahlon.

"We're collectively excited," concludes Shiner.