For the past couple of years, No Age guitarist Randy Randall has split his time between teaching Los Angeles teens and rocking out for them on the all-ages circuit. This fall, though, the buzz behind the duo's stellar Weirdo Rippers, an amalgam of shoegazing ambiance and trashy punk, has the California native temporarily packing up his textbooks to get in the van. But when reached on his cellphone on the first day of school, Randall admits to having problems leaving the classroom behind.

"I was actually at my old school today," he tells the Straight while stuck in L.A. traffic. "I was trying to get all my paperwork filed to hold on to my health-care benefits. It was such a nightmare. I didn't know when I resigned my full-time position to go back to subbing that I would lose my health care."

He has no doubt, though, that forsaking financial security for touring with bandmate Dean Spunt is the right thing to do. "I spend more time playing guitar and practising and writing–to ditch that now for the sake of something more secure would be wrong."

Although No Age officially formed in April 2006, the two have been playing together for years. As part of spazz-rock trio Wives, the musicians unleashed herky-jerky balls of tension, piercing the skulls of North American basement dwellers. When the group broke up, Spunt and Randall began jamming on mellower tunes. "We definitely wanted it to be less macho," Randall explains of No Age. "I don't know if Wives came across as a macho band, but there was definitely some dude energy to it."

With Spunt on drums and vocals, the two started experimenting with lush soundscapes, but still kept their punk edge. Two-and-a-half minutes of crashing waves and droning guitars open the ethereal "Every Artist Needs a Tragedy" before No Age launches into Pavement-worthy lo-fi pop. While much of the 11-track disc blends sonic serenity and full-on freak-outs in the same song, the guitarist is most excited about album closer "Escarpment". The ambient piece features no drums, showcasing an orchestra of six-strings breaking well past acceptable distortion levels. Unfortunately, Randall can't see No Age playing the tune on-stage anytime soon.

"I wouldn't even know how to play it live without having a Milli Vanilli prerecorded backing track," he laments. "I wish we could facilitate that, but it would take at least four or five guitar players up there working with tape loops."

No matter what No Age tackles during its sets, though, you can be sure the results are loud as hell. "I would say it's appropriately loud," Randall says of their notoriously earsplitting shows. "But I play without earplugs, to my own detriment, so maybe I am losing some hearing."

Despite the threat of deafness, the performer can always rely on feeling No Age's music in his bones–or at least in his clothes. "You can feel the material of your pants vibrating when you're standing in front of my amp," he says with a hearty laugh. "That's when I know it's loud enough. That's the sweet spot."

No Age plays Pat's Pub on Saturday (September 22).