Twenty-four-string stew

If one were to travel back to when AOR guitar-rock ruled the charts, they would have a difficult time tracking down a band that featured four guitarists. Welcome to the 24-string world known as Diarrhea Planet. At the group’s core is a collection of Belmont University students who met at shows in Nashville. Though they shared a love of music, their influences were all over the map.

“More than anything, it was that we all agreed that we loved rock and roll the most,” guitarist/singer Jordan Smith explains. “But everybody kind of likes different types of rock and roll, so that ends up making a pretty interesting stew.”

The resulting “stew” serves up albums such as their latest, Turn to Gold. It’s the hodgepodge of classic rock, alternative, and speed metal that one would expect from a band that christened itself “Diarrhea Planet.”

The big production and classic-rock elements of Turn to Gold may lead music writers to suspect that the album was influenced by late ’70s and early ’80s FM radio staples. But Smith, being a child of the ’90s, says he is adamant about paying homage to the decade that he grew up in. Smashing Pumpkins is his all-time favorite band, and that part of their draw was their ability to mix-up their attack. It was a trait that he felt a lot of ’90s bands embraced with positive results.

“I think Diarrhea Planet is like that — you might hear a lot of the same voices singing and that ties it together, and there are certain elements of style that tie it together, but, at the same time, you don’t know what you’re gonna hear next because we have the ability to put different hats on,” says Smith.

The band is one of the busiest touring acts on the road these days, and they always make an effort to visit our city, which Smith claims is his “personal favorite city to play in.” Perhaps he keeps returning to seek out the ever-elusive “weed organist” of Mission Beach.

“Every time I go to Mission Beach I swear at night I always hear this weird, creepy organ playing in my head. That’s the only beach in the U.S. that has ever done that to me. The weed organ.”

Diarrhea Planet plays the Soda Bar on Friday, November 11.