There are a few stock questions I always ask the bands I interview for this column, one of which is, “How did you guys get together?” More often than not, the answer is something like, “Uh, we worked together,” or “My friend knew his friend and said he could drum real good.”

In the case of the origins of As Venice Burns, however, it was under extremely distressing situations. Duty called, and, in the service of the heaviest of gods – the God of Metal – a young man was rescued from the clutches of the mortal sin we call bad music.

“Buddy is metal,” Scott Sergi, bass player for the Bangor-based metal band, said of his guitar-playing band mate Buddy Suddy. “He’s totally metal. He’s metal as … a word you can’t print in the paper. He needed to play in a metal band.”

Buddy-Who-Is-Metal was not, however, playing metal. And that was a problem. Sergi, drummer Tyler Parrish and singer Eddie Bischoff solved that by asking Buddy to come play with them sometime – seeing as the three of them also are, as they say, metal as a word you can’t print in the paper. And the rest is history.

Well, history after guitarist Ryan Tompkins and keyboard player Drew Lohman joined the band, thus upping the metal content by another 50 percent, for a full 150 percent of your RDA of metal. Did we mention that As Venice Burns is a metal band? ‘Cause they are.

AVB, who is set to play at the American Legion Hall in Dover-Foxcroft this Saturday with Brutal Intentions, Hearts of the Oak and Rebirth to the Ends, may be ardent brutalitarians musically, but don’t let that fool you. In truth, the band is a bunch of laid-back, funny dudes who want to rock out with their friends.

“That’s why this band works,” said Sergi. “We hang out outside of practice. We’re all friends. We really enjoy each other’s company.”

Considering all six members have been in various bands in the Greater Bangor area for several years now, AVB is a kind of cream-of-the-crop of young, heavy musicians. Parrish and Sergi were in the now-defunct Die Right Now, while other members were in bands such as the Art of Angels and Love Is Murder. They’ve had time to hone their chops.

The band just finished recording a four-song EP, which will be available at its shows. True to form, it’s loud, it’s heavy and it’s intense. Buddy and Tompkins play off each another’s guitar styles, absorbing their metal and hardcore influences into one pleasingly crunchy sound. Singer Bischoff provides the gnarly growls and screams, while Parrish has recently added clean vocals to the mix. Lohman’s keyboard work is effective and adds an unique element, and Sergi and Parrish provide a muscular foundation to it all.

Up next: an East Coast tour. They hope.

“A year from now, we hope we’re out playing music full time. That’s what we want,” said Sergi. “We love this band and we just want to play.”

As Venice Burns will play at the American Legion Hall in Dover-Foxcroft starting at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 12; $8, all ages. They will also play at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 19, at the Underground on Outer Hammond Street in Bangor with The Miles Between, Jules Verne and Follow the Flies; $10, all ages. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/asveniceburns. Emily Burnham may be reached at eburnham@bangordailynews.net.