At a show in San Francisco earlier this year, American Cheeseburger guitarist Steve Armstrong’s amp lit on fire. Armstrong noticed that his guitar wasn’t working, someone in the crowd shouted that they smelled smoke, and when Armstrong looked at the amp he saw flames licking the cabinet.

“We had to spit on it and throw beer on it to put the fire out,” Armstrong said. “It was pretty hilarious, like a Spinal Tap moment.”

Armstrong and American Cheeseburger have overcome more than mere equipment failures over their four-year career.

This summer, Armstrong and drummer Jason Griffin, the band’s two original members, added singer Jeff Rapier and bassist Joe Dakin after the departures of singer James Greer and bassist John Andrews.

Rapier found the transition to becoming American Cheeseburger’s lead singer to be a challenge, but a fulfilling one.

“It was a lot of work to get those lyrics,” he said. “I had to learn a bunch of songs in short period of time without blowing my voice out.”

In addition, Rapier found some difficulty in the musical style of American Cheeseburger, which differs significantly from his previous bands.

“All of the other stuff I’ve been involved with has been heavier stuff,” he said. “I’m used to playing fast but I was never a singer in a band like this.”

Despite the changes, Rapier enjoys his new band and his new band members. He highlighted the high energy and on-stage antics of the band’s live performances, in particular.

“[I'm] jumping around like a maniac on stage,” he said. “To get a reaction out of the crowd you’ve got to put forth a bunch of energy.”

American Cheeseburger has several new records on the way, including a reprint of a split with Canadian Rifle and a new split with Bukkake Boys.

More immediately, though, is a new split LP with RAF, due for release in November.

“Musically speaking we’ve been getting weirder and weirder forever,” Armstrong said. “We’ve changed a little bit from our first 7,” but not by that much.”

After the album is released, the band will play at The Fest in Gainesville, Fla. for the third year in a row. The three-day punk festival includes more than 400 bands, including several from Athens.

“People usually get down there early for Halloween in Gainesville, which gets pretty crazy,” Armstrong said.

After heading down south, the band departs for a Canadian tour in December, with several stops on the way.

“We’re gonna do at least four shows in Canada,” Griffin said. “Every time we’ve gone [to Canada] it’s great.”

With its thrash metal sound, American Cheeseburger has established a place for itself in a music scene dominated by indie-pop. Despite this difference in musical direction, the band enjoys friendships with the more pop-oriented bands.

“We had an indie-pop kid at our first ever show in Athens break dance in a pile of broken glass,” Armstrong said.