The members of Hawaii-born reggae/ska band Pepper [ tickets ] don't agonize over creating a set list while out on tour. They leaves that duty to their legion of dedicated fans.

"What we do every night is we plan the first four songs. We call them 'The Four Horsemen'," said drummer Yesod Williams during a phone interview with LiveDaily. "It gets the motor running; the blood flowing. It gets everyone into the show.

"Then we pretty much let the crowd choose the rest of the set list because, in our eyes, they're the boss, especially with the way we built our band. We tour and go out and see that people are supporting us. It's cool, because it attributes to the fact that they don't know just one song of ours; they'll be singing along to pretty much every song, which is a cool thing for us."

Case in point: The night before the interview, Pepper played Houston. After "The Four Horsemen," a couple handed the band a set list.

"This girl and this guy threw up a couple sheets of paper which had like 20 songs they wanted to hear on it," Williams said. "We said, 'Houston, you guys are smarter than most. You pretty much made up the whole set list for us.' We picked from the list throughout the whole thing while also taking requests from people in the crowd."

Williams, whose band released the album "Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations" earlier this year, said there is one misconception about Pepper.

"A lot of people listen to our music and they're like, 'Oh we can't wait for your show. It's so kicked back and mellow'--when it's pretty much the complete opposite," Williams said. "We pride ourselves on putting on the epitome of a rock show--super high energy, super-back-and-forth crowd participation. We like to think of it as a big party and we're pretty much music fans like everyone else that is coming to the show. We're just lucky enough to be hosting the party."

The centerpiece of the party of late is "Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations," which was produced by Butthole Surfers' guitarist Paul Leary, who also turned the knobs for 2006's "No Shame." Pepper, once signed to Atlantic Records, released "Pink Crustaceans and Good Vibrations" on its own label, Law Records.

"Our main objective was to just have fun making this record," Williams said, "If we have fun, first it'll benefit the music, even though the music was, in a sense, taking a side seat to having fun. At the end of the day, it made sense. The fun shows through the music. People can tell, 'Hey these are a bunch of guys having fun making this CD that I'm listening to right now.'"

Williams described Leary as not only a business colleague but a good friend as well. The punk rock legend attends most of Pepper's shows in Austin, where he lives.

"Besides all the hands-on stuff and what a cool guy he is, you sit back and you think, 'Wow, this guy's a living legend.' If it wasn't for him, there wouldn't be a lot of the grunge-era music. The Butthole Surfers are huge influences of so many bands that are bigger than them or big bands in general. That guy's made a huge imprint on the music industry. Having him working with us and to have it flow so good is just a blessing."

Leary wasn't the only one to lend a hand. Pennywise bassist Randy Bradbury offers his vocals on the song "Blackout," and the Street Drum Corps, featuring Bobby and Adam Alt, formerly of S.T.U.N., lends its percussion abilities. Williams said he didn't know what to expect from Street Drum Corps.

"But they added this new element to the album with all the percussion they brought in," Williams said. "They brought in tire rims, and belt sanders and mufflers and big steel trash cans that they would bang on. It was something we could have never achieved without those guys. Leary basically hit 'record' from the beginning of the album and basically had them play on pretty much every song on the album."

Overall, the recording process was smooth and fruitful for the band, which is now based in California, Williams said.

"Nowadays, I guess we're more relaxed. Everyday that we do this, we sit back and remind ourselves what a blessing it is to be doing this for a living. Through the tough times--especially being on tour and not being at home with the loved ones and all that--you can always sit back and thank God and step outside and look at it from an outside perspective and realize we're not waiting tables anymore."