If it was Friday, it must have been Cedar City.

The local band The Gorgeous Hussies performed at The Grind Coffee House in this southern Utah town Aug. 29, just another stop on the rock trio's in-state tour planned to hit nearly every corner of Utah.

"We're trying to reinject ourselves and play as many places as we can and as quickly as we can," said Jordan Olsen, lead singer and guitarist.

The band, which first played out in November 2006, began the rare trans-Utah tour the weekend of Aug. 8 at Liquid Joe's in Salt Lake City. It's scheduled to end Oct. 2 in Logan, after stops in Brian Head, St. George, Ogden, Eureka and Clearfield, among other places.

"The only person I have ever heard of doing an all-Utah tour was Gabe Dominguez of Shake Your Peace," said Will Sartain, local musician, promoter and co-owner of Kilby Court. "He did a Utah bike tour and biked to each of his shows. Rad."

The Utah gigs come after a nine-month touring furlough, self-imposed last winter by the group, which includes Olsen, bassist and multi-instrumentalist John Chatelain and drummer Ryan Smith. The three wanted to record a full-length album without the disruptions and distractions that regional touring inevitably brings.

Even as the band's local fan base was growing, "we quit cold turkey," Olsen said.

The process of writing and recording a self-released album -- tentatively called "Six Radio-Friendly Jams and Some Filler" by Chatelain, and scheduled to be finished this fall -- took a "full birth cycle" of nine months, Smith said.

In the process, the band changed - for the better. What began as a jazzy jam band turned into a fierce, yet melodic, rock sound in the mold of the 1990s alt-rock that Olsen and Smith grew up listening to. Those influences really rose to the surface during the recording process, Chatelain said.

The Gorgeous Hussies' new sound was displayed for the first time at the Liquid Joe's show, the band's first concert in nine months, a 45-minute set in a showcase of local bands.

Olsen played the role of consummate showman throughout - alternating between hand-strumming his guitar and flashing the devil sign - amid the prevalent cigarette smoke and bemused visages of tipsy patrons. At one point, he asked the crowd, "Anyone have a buzz? You're in the right place."

Behind Olsen, Smith bashed away at the drums, and to Olsen's left, Chatelain played both a regular bass and a stick bass while experimenting with looping, making the sound larger than its parts.

Taularia Sullivan, 27, of Salt Lake City, attended the show with friends and left impressed by the sound of the loud guitars. "They were very, very good," she said of the Gorgeous Hussies, a group she had never heard of before. "I thought they were phenomenal."

Robert Anderson, founder of Eureka's Green Desert Festival, scheduled Sept. 19-21, was at Liquid Joe's to hear the band on his event's bill. Afterward, he said, "They're a great, tight rock band. They have a great presence."

After the performance, Olsen's bald head was slippery with sweat, and he was feeling the effects of the nine-month hiatus. "I thought I was going to pass out," he said. "I need to build up my endurance."

But his face was glowing in the late evening air, as he and his bandmates packed up their own gear quickly so the next band could set up.

"It takes a little bit to get back," he said. "We're just beginning. This is just the beginning." dburger@sltrib.com