Just because people are in a band in Athens doesn’t mean they have to do typical band things such as playing at fraternity houses, shilling to record companies and eventually going on tour.

At least that’s what The Dictatortots believe. With members having aliases such as Belle Buster, Hung America and The Reverend M.C. Hatchet, it’s clear that The Dictatortots are serious about not being serious.

“We were sick of other bands,” said bassist The Reaver. “I mean, think about it: 99.8 percent of music is made up of crappy love songs.”

Starting out with three members 10 years ago, The Dictatortots now play with anywhere from six to 13 people at their shows.

The band thrives on playing songs that are off-the-wall, absurd and downright ridiculous. Some songs, such as “That’s a Lot of Blood” and “You’d Look Better,” border on blatantly offensive.

When asked about their nicknames, guitarist Snake (or Bear) said, “It’s best to keep our music completely separate from real life.”

With shows that guitarist Trü describes as a “cavalcade of reasonably priced awesome,” The Dictatortots aims to entertain. Often, the group’s live shows involve a particular theme such as “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The group also has a powerful cannon that it uses to shoot random objects such as marshmallows, popcorn and Lucky Charms into the crowd.

Sometimes, however, the band’s live show tricks can go awry. When The Dictatortots debuted the song “Hippies Don’t Care How They Smell,” for example, the band found out the hard way that giving percussion instruments to the audience is a bad idea.

“Never arm the audience, and never give them instruments,” said The Reaver. “We had people banging cowbells on the wall; they were in the zone.”

The Dictatortots may do a lot silly things at their shows and write playful songs, but it’s all in good fun.

“We’ve done a lot of stupid stuff,” said Trü. “A lot of it we can’t remember, but all of it was funny to at least one of us.”