The band formed in 2001 because "we were bored with all the music going on around the scene, and we were like, 'We should just start rocking out and making fun of devil-worshipping bands,'" says Brother Ant. The duo, which also features Brother Ed on homemade cardboard drum kit, just released its second CD, North of Hell, follow-up to 2003's Kickin' the Devil in the Balls, continuing its lo-fi approach. Brother Ant boasts it was "recorded in the basement in one day," and the raggedy, bare-bones music splits the difference between rural juke-joint blues and old-school punk — and splits them into a side A and a side B, as well as a "bonus EP." "I thought you could flip the CD over but obviously something happened," says Brother Ant. "Maybe people can lift it out and put it into a different CD player."

Like Kickin', North of Hell is a bawdy, good-humored send-up of backwoods fire-and-brimstone preaching with songs about sin, hell, the devil ("a *****," they declare on "The Devil Is…"), and the holy trinity of "Johnny, Jesus & Me," "Johnny" being Johnny Cash.

"We're both huge fans of Johnny Cash," says Brother Ed. "That's another incentive to go down the straight and narrow. When you go to heaven, you get to go up there with Johnny."

The Bros. Anthony and Ed are pretty emphatic about what they dub "devil-worshipping music."

"Any band who isn't rocking for Jesus is a devil-worshipping band," says Brother Ed. "Our friends' band Keelhaul. In our song 'Gates of Hell,' we describe what hell's going to be like. One of the things is eternity down there with Britney Spears."

Spears is a favorite target in their live show, which they say is the essence of what the band's about. It features colorful polyester clothing — "We're definitely the best-dressed band in Cleveland," Brother Ed boasts — and rubber snakes, since most clubs don't look kindly on real ones.

"We try to get an old-school revival going," says Brother Ant. "We like people to leave a show going, 'What the hell was that?' We don't even care if they applaud. We just want them to be confused."

Brother Ed adds, "We have played shows where all of a sudden people get up and just start leaving, which for me is a thrill. I think one time there was about 10 to 15 people that got up and left. I made an announcement from the stage, 'Everybody look at all the devil-worshippers leaving the club.'"

Brother Anthony adds, "We usually complain about Tom Cruise or Britney Spears. Jesus could kick L. Ron Hubbard's ass easily! Britney Spears is the beginning of the end of civilization, sinking young ladies down into the depths of hell. But we're just having fun."

One zealot whom Uncle Scratch can't quite touch is Cleveland guitarist Glenn Schwartz who harangues sinners every Thursday at Hoopple's in the Flats. Brother Ed claims Schwartz once attended a party they played and told them he enjoyed their show. But they eschew Schwartz's calling women in short skirts "jezebels."

"Glenn puts us to shame, for sure," says Brother Ant. "He's the Billy Graham of Christian rock 'n' roll. We actually like sinner women. God created beer and loose women. We can't condemn them unless we indulge and see if it's really bad. So we have a little different philosophy. We tell people there's only two ways to get to heaven. And that's one, if you read and follow the Bible, and two, if you buy an Uncle Scratch CD and show it at the pearly gates."