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Pretty Ugly are, from left to right: Bassist Jeff Rambin, guitarist Jeremy Jacques, drummer Bo Edmond and vocalist / guitarist Conner Rambin.

“Nietzsche says there are two kinds of people in the world. People who are destined for greatness, like Walt Disney and Hitler. And then there’s the rest of us.

“He called us ‘the bungled and the botched.’ We get teased. We sometimes get close to greatness, but we never get there. We’re the expendable masses. We get pushed in front of trains, take poison aspirin, get gunned down in Dairy Queens.”

                           Jack Lucas, “The Fisher King”

So goes the inspiration for Tacoma band Pretty Ugly’s debut full-length album, “The Bungled and the Botched,” set to be released at the end of April. Featuring University of Washington Tacoma junior Bo Edmond on drums, Pretty Ugly epitomize rock and roll’s true essence.

Basically, they’re a band of self-deprecating, unpretentious miscreants who just don’t give a flying fuck. They are the dregs of Generation X/Y, representing the burgeoning ranks of 20-somethings who want an escape from work-a-day Society, Inc. And, they make some darn good rock and roll, stripped of all the posturing and pretensions that suffocates today’s corporate radio.

“Real rock and roll isn’t happening right now. Everyone wants to be perfect,” Edmond said after a recent gig at Tacoma’s epicenter of rock, Hell’s Kitchen.

Combining elements that hark back to the birth of metal with punk-pop sensibilities, Pretty Ugly blasts a type of unrefined, viscerally raw music they endearingly dub “dirt ball rock and roll.”

Front man and lead guitarist Conner Rambin’s lyrics are delivered like a punch to the gut, while Edmond beats the ever-living hell out of the skins (he actually broke a cymbal at the Hell’s Kitchen show). Bassist Jeff Rambin and accompanying guitarist Jeremy Jacques take care of the rest, infusing the sound with enough rhythm and melody to make the loud, brash style of Pretty Ugly catchy and harmonic.

Coming off three straight weeks in the studio to play Hell’s Kitchen, the only sign of strain was in Rambin’s vocals, with his cracking voice showing evidence of the grueling studio sessions.

“We thought the album would be done by now, but there’s a lot that we haven’t anticipated,” Edmond said.

There were a few setbacks along the way, the most notable being Jeff Rambin’s arrest for public fornication on the night before the band’s first studio session. They also lost their practice space during that time, owing to a Pabst Blue Ribbon-infused night of debauchery.

Pretty Ugly seems to have a penchant for getting kicked out of places. After their set at Hell’s Kitchen, the band nearly got tossed from the bar for lighting up in the green room. Smelling the smoke drifting out from the room, a bouncer squeezed his way through the doorframe and ordered everyone out. Jacques, who bears a strong resemblance in both appearance and attitude to Bam Margera, deftly put his cigarette out between his fingers and pocketed the butt.

“This would not be the first time we got 86’d from our own shows,” Conner Rambin said.

Ignoring the bouncer’s request, the band remained in the green room. A few seconds later, the big man returned. “You are out of here for smoking indoors in the state of Washington,” he belted out with authority to deaf ears. Tension drifted through the air when he opened the door a third time.

“Are you guys Pretty Ugly?” he asked.

“Yeah,” sounded the chorus.

“Here,” the bouncer replied, notably sheepish, as he produced a thin envelope.

“We got paid? We got money for tonight?” Edmond said, opening the envelope and passing around a $20 bill to each member.

The total: $84.

After a few seconds, Edmond – the band’s voice of reason -- tried taking the cash back from his reluctant band mates.

“Let’s give it all to Mark [their album’s producer],” he said. The tab for their studio time is well over $1,000.

“I’ve got kids to feed,” Jeff Rambin protested.

“I’ve got beers to drink,” Jacques responded.

“I think we should pay off our record,” Edmond nagged.

In the end, they all did the selfless thing and handed the cash over to Edmond. Despite their initial reluctance to fork over that night’s paycheck, all the members in the band are happy with their studio investment.

“I think Mark Simmons has done good for us,” Jeff Rambin said. “For the amount of time we spent in the studio, it came out great.”

With a modest release of about 500 copies to be distributed at independently owned record stores such as Rocket Records in Tacoma, Pretty Ugly isn’t shooting for the moon with “The Bungled and the Botched.”

“We’re going to see where this album takes us. It’s really up to the people. Realistically, we’ve played a lot of shows without even a demo, so we have a bit of confidence going into [the album release],” Conner Rambin said.

“I just want to keep playing and keep drinking, and eventually play bigger venues,” Jacques said.

Pretty Ugly’s next show is scheduled for April 27, at the Cedarwood Dome in Fife.

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