The Sword is well-honed for the road

In some ways, the Sword are very much an Austin act. All four members of the seven-year-old heavy metal band live here, enjoy the town's causal rock lifestyle and consider themselves better-than-average connoisseurs of Mexican food.

In some ways, they are very much not an Austin band. They don't play here often — at this point, the quartet tours so much that the band agrees an Austin date is virtually just another gig. They're on their third album in five years for a respected indie label: 'Warp Riders' is due Tuesday from New York-based Kemado Records.

And they've toured with Metallica, opening for the metal lifers on their 2008 European Vacation and the 2009 World Magnetic Tour.

That last one really does jump out at you, huh?

But sitting in a Mexican restaurant in North Austin, they certainly don't look like how you think guys who opened for Metallica would look. The only evidence that they might be operating at a slightly higher level than any other band that plays Red River Street clubs is that their publicist made a reservation at this place, which seems somewhat hilarious considering the folding chairs we're sitting on.

They look like any other Austin band of guys in their 30s. Guitarist Kyle Shutt, bassist Bryan Richie and drummer Trivett Wingo are soon joined by a somewhat grumpy-looking J.D. Cronise, who looks like he just woke up and keeps his sunglasses on the entire time.

THE SWORD AS BEATLES

Small digression: Personality-wise, the Sword breaks down weirdly well into the Beatles archetype.

Guitarist and vocalist Cronise is very much the Lennon. He writes the balance of the material, nearly all of it. He can come off as surly and distant, but actually has a wicked sense of humor. Also, they have similar noses.

Bryan Richie is something of a McCartney — the Austin-native bassist is good-natured and accessible and seems to slip into the role of band spokesman by default. However, there is no evidence that people hate him with the white-hot rage they reserve for the real Paul McCartney, nor does he write Sword music. But he definitely seems like the band member you'd want talking to the cops.

Like George Harrison, guitarist Kyle Shutt is younger than the rest of the band by several years. One day, one imagines quite the solo album coming from that guy. Not sure about the Indian thing, though.

Trivett Wingo, like Ringo Starr, has one of the best names in rock music. He's also perhaps the most openly funny Sword. Sean William Scott will play him in the movie of the Sword's career. (Note: Movie not currently in production.)

OPENING FOR THE MASTERS OF METAL

So, yeah, Metallica ...

'We played a lot of Frisbee,' Richie says, as opening for a stadium act is pretty much the ultimate in hurry up and wait. There's a reason bands stay up as late as humanly possible so they wake up at sound check — things get boring when you're hanging around waiting to play your 30 minutes a night in front of people who are there to see someone else.

'For being in the position they are in, (Metallica) are a very hospitable band,' Shutt says. 'The stage we played on was utterly ridiculous (in a good way). Lots of running around.'

'You do have to learn new skills,' Richie says. 'It's a 30-minute set, two songs from each album, and it's a bit of an endurance test, as it's a huge stage and you want to cover it. And you have to learn to play off the reflections from the other side of the arena. It felt like one of those tests of being in a rock band.'

Then there was Wingo, who, sitting down, often couldn't see the other band members. 'I would just kind of check out, and we just as well could have been in our practice space,' Wingo says.

But they weren't. They were opening for Metallica.

They reportedly treated them a bit better than did Ozzy Osbourne, for whom they opened at a show for contest winners in London at the Roundhouse.

'It's a place that is mentioned a lot in (the legendary Led Zeppelin bio) "Hammer of the Gods," so we were looking forward to it,' Shutt says. 'But we did not meet Ozzy.'

'You really should get to meet Ozzy if you open for him,' Wingo adds.