Rock band Ludo hits the stage at Copper Dragon Sunday night, marking a return to Carbondale in its first show as the headliner.

“Dale of Carbon: Batten down the hatches, because Ludo is coming, and they’re bringing a tornado of sex. Not sex, but rock. No, sex. No, rock. It’s rock. It’s not real sex, either way.”

Such is the warning from Andrew Volpe, vocalist and rhythm guitarist for Ludo.

Ludo, newly signed to Island Records, is touring partly to get the word out about its first major label release. “You’re Awful, I Love You,” the band’s third album, will be available Feb. 26.

Ludo originated in St. Louis nearly four and a half years ago, the brainchild of Volpe.

The show at Copper falls in the midst of a long schedule of touring, and the group is excited to perform close to home, said Tim Convy, who plays the Moog synthesizer.

“We have a lot of secondary hometowns, and Carbondale being kind of close definitely feels like one of them,” Convy said.

“You’re Awful, I Love You” builds on Ludo’s first two independently-released records, but adds in new elements that propels it far beyond the other albums, Volpe said.

“We gestated it lovingly … for however long you gestate music babies … and we had our hubby go out and get ice cream whenever we wanted it, and we worked with our obstetrician to make sure that everything was healthy, and when the time came, we delivered,” Volpe said. “I think everyone’s going to fall in love with this baby.”

Though members of Ludo don’t want to pigeon-hole themselves in any one musical genre, Convy said people have tried to fit them in every style.

“We’re a rock band that writes a lot of pop songs,” Convy said. “We don’t want to close ourselves off.”

Ludo is headlining at Copper Dragon, preceded by The Effects, Halfway Jane and Brad Olive.

Ludo has been touring with The Effects, a ’70s cover band from Tulsa, Okla.

“The Effects is an amazing, amazing band. They’re like a ’70s throwback, they’re almost like Led Zeppelin, or stuff like that,” Convy said.

The show is at Copper Dragon Sunday. Doors open at 8 p.m., and tickets are $8 in advance.

“We’re going to bring the rock, we’re going to bring it hard. We’re going to explode,” Volpe said. “Rock magma all over everybody’s head.”

Audra Ord can be reached at 53-3311 ext. 275 or at [email protected].