Close to the end of an hour-long interview with the Georgia Straight, Indian Wars guitarist Dave McMartin flips open his laptop and proudly displays a nude photograph of himself and his four bandmates. It shows them crouched in a tranquil stream, their modesty barely shielded by the shallow water. This revealing shot is a homage to an image that appeared inside of the Allman Brothers Band’s self-titled LP from 1969, and the musicians laugh when recalling the cold and humiliating photo shoot.

“Joggers going by could see us naked,” says drummer John McMartin. “Cars driving by could see us naked. There’s five naked guys standing in the middle of Queen Elizabeth Park.”

Guitarist Fraser With chimes in, “I was sitting in two inches of goose shit, man. Naked! It was horrible.”

Embarrassing as the memory is, the band members are obviously thrilled with the resulting picture, which is featured inside the gatefold of their debut LP, Walk Around the Park. As they hide from the rain on the sheltered patio of the South Cambie home shared by the McMartin brothers and singer-bassist Brad Felotick, they reflect on the progress they’ve made since forming just two years ago in Tsawwassen.

“We used to jam in my grandma’s garage and just get crazy drunk and play music that was always super shitty,” remembers John between swigs of beer. “After a while it sort of formed into a band.”

They eventually honed their chaotic jams into a hook-heavy garage-rock sound, channeling the classic pop songwriting of the Kinks and the raucous energy of the Gories and Black Lips. Their rough early recordings earned the attention of Austria’s Bachelor Records, and the label issued the band’s debut seven-inch in late 2009.

“I like the shitty recordings,” says With of that EP’s DIY sound, which was created at home using a laptop and liberal doses of reverb. Felotick agrees, adding, “There’s a lot of records that sound like shit, and they’re really good, but they still sound like shit.”

Despite their love of lo-fi recordings, they opted to ditch the do-it-yourself approach when laying down their full-length. The songs were captured over a handful of sessions with producer Felix Fung at Little Red Sounds on East Hastings Street. The results capture the outfit’s ragged-glory approach with the sonic clarity of a professional studio. “The new record doesn’t sound like shit,” declares John. “It sounds actually a little more polished.”

Walk Around the Park also benefits from the addition of a new member, keyboardist Craig Pettman. His involvement added a spontaneous twist to the group’s studio experience. “We hadn’t rehearsed the piano parts or the organ parts,” explains Dave. “He would just get crazy on the piano and it sounded cool.”

Pettman’s honky-tonk licks help to push the band away from its classic garage-pop style in favour of a more rootsy, country-infused sound. The acoustic stomp of “That’s the Way It Goes” features a wheezing harmonica and sawing fiddle, while the galloping opener “Tuscaloosa Bar” showcases Felotick’s brash shout at its most twangy.

Despite this gritty, off-kilter approach to the music of the Deep South, Felotick doesn’t believe his band has much in common with other alt-country artists. “When I think of alt-country I think of Ryan Adams and stuff like that,” he observes with a chuckle. “Fuck, if we were as good as that, we’d probably make a lot more money. But it is an alternative to country music I suppose.”

Self-deprecating comments aside, the members of Indian Wars clearly had a blast recording, and they recall the sessions as a blissful blur of alcohol and music. “I think every moment in that studio was a moment of drunken something-or-other,” jokes Felotick “From 8 o’clock in the morning to 8 o’clock at night.”

John suggests that this hedonistic behaviour was encouraged by the producer: “Felix said, ”˜The more fun you’re having in the studio, the better the record is.’ ”

Fraser concurs. “He made it a super comfortable situation. There were lamps and stuff, and it was just really relaxed,” he says. “Man, if there was a chick in that studio, you’d be totally having sex with her.” This comment elicits roars of laughter from his bandmates, including John’s observation of: “It’s not a porno studio.”

With Walk Around the Park due to drop on May 20, Indian Wars is now gearing up for its biggest show yet: opening up for Black Lips at the Commodore Ballroom, a room with a capacity of nearly a thousand people.

“I never thought I’d get a seven-inch, and then we have one,” marvels With. “I never thought I’d get an LP and then we have one. Fuck, where do you go from there? I never thought I’d play to 990 people. Jesus Christ, I’m going to die.”

Despite their many accomplishments, the musicians insist that it’s all business as usual for Indian Wars. “Not a lot has changed,” asserts John. “We’re still playing in a garage with a bunch of shitty equipment. We’re just two years down the road and it sounds a hell of a lot better.”

Indian Wars plays the Biltmore Cabaret on May 28.