One thing's for sure about the Gainesville-based band The Bass Lazers - when they hit the road, they know how to pick a nice ride.

Or you'd think that's so, anyway, since founding members Hal Parker and Mike Sirola met as co-workers at Cavender Auto in Gainesville. Sirola plays guitar and Parker sings, and the two decided to form a band about two years ago after hanging out after work and putting together their own songs.

They met bassist Brian Whalen because he works in the car business, too, and drummer Moe Cantrell happened to come into the dealership one day, revealed he could play drums and was recruited on the spot.

They have been playing gigs in the Hall County and Atlanta areas since October, enjoying sharing their original tunes with new audiences. The band plays Saturday night at Loco's Deli in Gainesville, and we spoke with Parker about the band's start and the type of music they like to play.

Question: How did the band form?

Answer: Mike and I work together, and I write lyrics and he writes music. So we kinda got together and that's how it came about. Brian works in the car business also, right here in Gainesville, and we knew Brian played bass guitar. And Moe was a godsend to us. Moe came into the dealership one day and we found out he played drums, and he just fit.

Q: What style of music do you play?

A: We started off wanting to play songs that people have forgotten — to reach people from (age) 25 to 60 — rock ‘n' roll music that's pretty much forgotten. We pretty much have our own style. It's all rock ‘n' roll; we want to sing songs that you've never heard that you know by heart.

Q: What are your influences?

A: I was all classic rock, for sure. Then I got into country for a little bit. When I first started writing songs, I was writing country songs, and I started playing them at open mic nights around Atlanta. ... Then me and Mike got together and we decided to get our songs out there.

When you work all the time, you don't have time to shop your songs. So, we said let's do a band, have some fun with it. And every place we've played has asked us back.

Q: So, where do the band's original songs come from?

A: Brian also writes songs. I pretty much write the lyrics, but we all write the lyrics, we all write the songs. ... We have Mike's style, Brian's style and my style. Moe comes up with melodies; he has a knack for that. So, everybody contributes.

Everyone has a piece in all of them. We love writing songs together, we love practicing and performing together.

Q: What can we expect from your Loco's show?

A: To have fun. Just come and expect to have fun listening to rock music. We play a few cover songs - people come up and ask, "Can you play this? Can you play that?" But after we start playing (originals), they stop asking because they're having a good time.

We write songs that you can dance to and you can hear what we're saying. It's just a lot of fun. It's like going to listen to a band 20 years ago or 50 years ago, and you can sing along to the songs. ... It's everyday music and things you can relate to, which I think makes it more interesting for people.