Urban Dance Squad’s Organized Insanity

Patrick Remington, the leader of the Dutch rap ‘n’ roll band Urban Dance Squad, seems to enjoy keeping people off-guard.

He likes to include surprises in the band’s music--an eclectic combination of dance, rap, rock and even punk influences that led to an international hit last year with the single “Deeper Shade of Soul.” This affection for surprises also extends to interviews.

“We don’t fit a formula,” he says, teasingly. “Then again, maybe we actually do. There’s probably a formula for bands that never fit the formula. . . . and that’s us.”

It’s the kind of double-edged remark that is typical of Remington, a 26-year-old Amsterdam resident who goes by the name Rude Boy. You have to pay close attention to what he’s saying to make sure you don’t get lost on some of the twists and curves.

But, then again, few people who have heard the multiracial quintet’s frisky 1990 debut album, “Mental Floss for the Globe,” would probably expect conventional answers anyway.

The music on the Arista album, which sold 400,000 copies in the U.S., borders on organized insanity. At its core it’s rap backed by a blaring, danceable, chaotic mix of metal, R&B;, rock and funk--powered by shrieking guitars and brute-force percussion.

Rude Boy cites LL Cool J’s 1985 “Radio” album as his primary musical inspiration, but says the group’s sound is a reflection of the widespread influences and backgrounds of all the band members--all of whom live in Amsterdam, but whose native countries range from Holland to Surinam and Indonesia.

“It’s an alliance of strange characters,” he says referring to guitarist Tres Manos, bassist Silly Sil, drummer Magic Stick and DJ DNA. “We’re all so different you’d think we’d wind up destroying each other, but we come together and then merge all our ideas.”

The group’s second album, due Oct. 15, is an even more complex musical package--cominging traces of country, jazz and reggae. ( See review Page 68 .) For instance, the adventurous Rude Boy’s raps are backed on one track by sitar, sleek harmonies and fierce Gregorian chants.

But don’t expect Rude Boy to make sense out of any of these offbeat moves. “I know what it’s supposed to mean--though I can’t explain it,” he says, this time straightforwardly. “We threw all this together and it just came out like this.”

Pressed to explain the concept behind the unusual style, he replies, “What concept? We don’t plan it. We get together and it happens. We all have so many musical influences that the music can sound like it’s from Mars.

“I can hear a bass line that triggers something or a guitar lick triggers something else. Someone puts in this and that, someone else puts in that. We get to a finished point somehow. We don’t know what we’re doing, but we do know when we’re finished.”