Seattle rockers Goldie Wilson – who play two shows in Monterey on Saturday – had the ultimate Detroit experience while recording its first LP: At 1am, the band, too young to rent a car at the time, had to haul all its equipment on the Metro from the studio in downtown Detroit. A shady looking fellow sitting next to them matter-of-factly pulled out a Bowie knife and started cutting lines of coke on a Big Mac wrapper.

“Detroit, here we are,” says guitarist/singer Mike Ball.

But for Goldie Wilson (named after the mayor in Back to the Future), a knife-scare on a bus was a small price to pay for getting the opportunity to work with Jim Diamond – who’s produced the White Stripes and the Dirtbombs – and record in a city with a music history that’s richer than Warren Buffett.

“I’m a huge Motown fan so being able to be in that city put us in a particular mindset,” Ball says.

The versatility of Detroit’s music scene – a breeding ground for musicians from Wilson Pickett to Iggy Pop and Jack White – was the perfect platform for a young band whose album pulls musical inspiration from The Raveonettes, Ritchie Valens and Fountains of Wayne.

Ball says the album, at least lyrically, follows a theme made up of his positive and negative relationships throughout the years. The result is a patchwork of irony, juxtaposition, atmosphere and, sometimes, death.

“[Death] is a way to take some of the pop-py numbers and give them a little bit of edge,” Ball says. “It’s also a nod to the lyrical style of The Raveonettes and a way to keep songs from getting too cheesy.”

On “Vivian,” a tune that purposely echoes the innocence of Valens’ “Oh Donna,” Ball uses the infectiously amiable reverb of a vintage-style ballad to lay down some darkly-humored lines in harmony with Leah Rosen: “Let’s take a stroll, hand and hand down to hell.”

“Two Star Motels” pulls dusty cowboy remnants from Hank Williams’ “Nobody’s Lonesome for Me.” The tune is evocative of Tom Waits’ “Nighthawks at the Diner”: sleazy scenery romanticized through prose, like “New Testament bibles, black and white TVs, crinkly mattresses, Art Deco draperies.”

“It was definitely easy to draw upon my experiences at places like that to come up with the lyrics,” Ball says. “There was this place in Florida I stayed that had sheets full of holes and cockroaches.”

At times, Goldie Wilson sprawls beyond the desolate and twangy musk of cheap motels and Bobby Darin 45s into bright pastures of synth-laden dance music.

The track “45 rpms” could be the lovechild of The B-52s and The Ventures: Ball’s ocean-fueled surf riffs are serenaded by quirky ’80s melodies on the keys and an out-of-control theremin. Ball and Rosen’s back and forth vocals mirror the campy vibe of Fred Schneider and Cindy Wilson on “Rock Lobster.”

While tunes like “Bad News Baby” draw upon that ’80s dance and new wave sound, Goldie Wilson’s heart belongs to the earlier bands.

“Shuffle,” the last song on the album, has a sweet-toned Ricky Nelson quality to it that melds paradoxically with Ball’s unapologetic lyrics: “I fooled around with foreign girls in lonesome towns.”

This summer, Goldie Wilson will hit the studio in Seattle and most likely come out with another gem – and more stories involving drugs, weapons and public transportation.

Goldie Wilson plays at 4pm, Saturday, March 20 at Recycled Records, 604 Lighthouse Ave., Monterey. Free. 375-5454. They also play 9pm at Blue Fin, 685 Cannery Row, Monterey. $10. 717-4280.