"It's time to get on the bus!"

With that, Ruder Than U lunges into "Get on the Bus" by the Royal Crescent Mob and the crowd goes wild, sweating and joining in on the anthemic lines "Shit, goddamn, get off your ass and jam!"

"That's one of our signature songs," vocalist/guitarist/trombonist Dave Schneck said. "It's one of the most popular tunes we do. We ham it up in the beginning and everybody gets moving."

The floor is packed as the band plays its Thursday night Brewery gig, mixing originals with versions of a wide range of cover material, custom tailored for maximum jammin' energy. The list of artists goes on and on: Bob Marley, the Clash, English Beat, the Rolling Stones, Peter Tosh, Joe Jackson, Talking Heads . . . all swallowed up whole by the insatiable mob on the dance floor.

"I really like them," said Mark Ross, guitarist for Queen Bee and the Blue Hornet Band. "They're fun to watch and they've got tons of raw energy."

Now, behind the scenes.

Smoke from a cigarette tucked between a guitar's tuning pegs crawls upward and expands into a swirling haze near the bare pipes and exposed fiberglass insulation. The ceiling of this back room is filled with amplifiers, drums, water heaters and bottles.

A funky new tune slowly takes shape among the humidity and bare concrete. The bass player closes his eyes and puts his body into the rhythm. The saxman squeals bluesy licks in between vocal lines.

Welcome to a woodshedding session with Ruder Than U.

Ted McCloskey is the wiry, dark-haired man next to the wall with a Pirates cap on backwards, playing soulful guitar leads behind Schneck as they work the song through its paces.

Bassist Don Pancoe slaps and pops the strings of his blond Rickenbacker axe, propelling the groove.

"My main influence is 24-7 Spyz," he said, and the hard funk of his playing backs him up.

Doug Dubrosky plays his sax at one corner of the room. He's wearing a Fishbone t-shirt. "People think I look wasted," said the wild-haired Dubrosky between takes.

At the other end, drummer John Woodman looks oddly clean-cut with his bright yellow tank-top and short hair, but his style behind the drumkit meshes perfectly.

"This place is a bit raunchy," he said. "I wish we had a nicer place to rehearse."

Schneck, composer of the song the band is learning, whacks away at his Fender Telecaster guitar and delivers his lyrics like he means them.

Ruder Than You has been playing and steadily developing a following among Penn State barhoppers since June 1989, when Woodman joined Dubrosky and put the band together.

"We drafted Dave," Woodman said of the Toy Memory veteran. McCloskey and Pancoe rounded out the band after auditions.

"All the members are original except for Don, who's been with us since January," Woodman said.

But what does Ruder Than U sound like? Ask the five different members and get five different answers.

"We have such varied tastes," Dubrosky said.

Everyone readily chimed in with the names of various groups which inform their work: The Specials, The Police, Fishbone, Funkadelic, Bob Marley, Black Uhuru.

"REO Speedwagon," McCloskey volunteered.

Schneck picks up the ball. "Don't knock 'em, they're great."

"Ted's a Duran-Duranie," Dubrosky said.

They have a good time busting on each other, but they also laugh together, striking up satirical renditions of The Who's "Happy Jack" or Free's "All right Now."

Or capturing moths to feed their pet salamander . . . really.

"Gimme that moth, John," says Dubrosky, and the drummer dutifully hands over his catch. Into the terranium. "Come on, baby."

The moth is no more.

"We're too poor to buy crickets," Dubrosky explained, "so we feed 'em insects hangin' around the house."

Fans hang around the house, too. Cristine Catanese (senior-journalism) was at this particular practice.

"I went to see them at the Brewery and I just liked them. I like that they do a bit of everything. And their originals are good."

The name? "It's from a Specials song called 'Too Hot,' " said saxophonist Doug Dubrosky. "One line of it goes: 'we're ruder than you.' "

The term "rude" comes from the lingo of ska, the British mutation of reggae which largely influences the band. And, true to their name, the band's new self-produced cassette is boldly entitled, Take This!

The tape is a collection of six Ruder Than U originals, written mostly by Schneck.

Dubrosky said Schneck's tunes tend to be the most socially conscious of the band's offerings, like "Rich Man's Robinhood" with it's rousing rap section: "Takin' from the poor, givin' to the rich, when you ain't got much money, life is a bitch."

"It's a parody on Robin Hood," Schneck said.

"The dumb ones are mine, but they're the best," Dubrosky said.

The band plans to have copies of the tape professionally duplicated soon, but are dubbing copies themselves now to have ready for its Arts Festival performance at 10 tonight on Centre Stage.

The cassette will appear in local record stores in about a week, the band said.

Future plans for the band are uncertain, but Dubrosky said Ruder Than U will move to Philadelphia in the near future and try to stay together. Dubrosky and Schneck graduated from Penn State in May, and Pancoe will follow suit at the end of summer.

All but McCloskey plan to migrate to Philadelphia soon and continue to play State College on weekends. McCloskey, who has one more semester of college, will eventually join them in Philadelphia.

Back to the stage, Ruder Than U closes its final set of the night, spent but elated just like the audience. The audience, a cross section of the student community like the band itself, slowly drifts onto Beaver Avenue and away from the Brewery.