"We had ideas of what music we wanted to play because we had all these influences," Slade said. "We put it all together and what came out was our style."

The idea of naming the band Miss Derringer came from Slade's interest in gangsters and the Mafia.

"We came up with this character called Miss Derringer that fit with the sound of music we play," he said. "We're kind of like outlaw country punk. And the more we toyed with the idea, the more things started to surface. So we put the character, which is our band, into these little musical adventures."

The band's recent album "Winter Hill," which is the band's third studio CD overall, was inspired by another mob-related theme, Slade said.

"When we were getting ready to work on the new CD, I surfed the Web and landed in Wikipedia."

The Winter Hill Gang, founded by James "Buddy" McLean in the 1950s, was composed of Irish-American and Italian-Irish organized crime figures based in Boston, Mass.

"We decided to write songs loosely based on the Winter Hill concept," Slade said. "But at the same time, not make it a concept album per se.

"We started writing songs as soon as we finished the last CD ("Lullaby") and demoed the songs and released an EP. And then went back into the studio and did the new CD.

"This time we knew what we were doing, and it turned out pretty nicely."

E-mail: scott@desnews.com

If you go...

What: Girl in a Coma, Miss Derringer

Where: Burt's Tiki Lounge, 726 S. State Street

When: July 8, 8 p.m.

How much: $8-$10

Phone: 801-467-8499, 800-888-8499

Web: www.smithstix.com