“Girl Next Door members (from left) Marty Hill, Brad Clare, Nancy Hill, Dave Williams and Jack Knauer practice in a Greenbank garage. The true-to-life garage band performs at local fairs and festivals and at the South Whidbey American Legion.Ken George/staff photoWhen it comes to garage bands, you can’t get much garage-ier than Girl Next Door.A couple of nights each week, you’ll find the driving six-member band behind the Indian-print blanket, next to the fuel filters and PCV valves, near the rocker-arm assembly, across from the disassembled carburetor, overlooking a rack of windshield wiper blades and cans of lithium grease and engine cleaner.The band members look cozy to say the least, packed tightly into the compact, padded, low-ceilinged back room of Rainbow Auto Service in Greenbank where they rehearse. Packed with them are guitar amplifiers, microphone stands, recording equipment, speakers and a snake pit of cables and wires.But the sound that comes out is as concentrated as the room itself, with a tight blend of instruments, a strong beat and several musical surprises. For one thing, the band has no keyboard player, though drummer Marty Hill said he’d like to try playing a keyboard and drums at the same time. For another, there’s Dave Williams’ mighty mandolin, an instrument not often found in the average rock and roll band.He’s a mandolin-playin’ monster, said guitarist Jack Knauer of Williams. Indeed, Williams’ mandolin gives the band a sound that varies from country-rock one minute to European or Middle Eastern the next.Williams said it’s not easy to musically categorize Girl Next Door.We’re a little bit of everything – rock, folk, blues. We like the old stuff too. If it’s out there, we’re doing it, he said.For a hint of the band’s diverse interests you only have to look next to the rehearsal room’s stereo system where you’ll find a stack of CDs by such divergent performers as 1960s mood-rockers Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton and grunge-metalers Alice in Chains.One of the reasons for Girl Next Door’s eclectic sound, explained Williams, is the difference in age among band members. Williams grew up in the ’60s, while bass guitarist Ethan Penney is just out of college.Though they often play other artists’ music at gigs, band members prefer playing their own compositions. And every member gets the chance to write. Though the band is working on a CD of original music, they all say that selling songs is not the reason they play.We get to do what we love to do the way we want to do it, said Knauer, who has played with most everyone on the island in the last 15 years but now relishes his time with Girl Next Door. Music is not what I do. It’s what I am. I love the tunes.Hill joined the band a little more than a year ago after filling in for what was to be a one time deal. But everyone was impressed with the sound they produced together.We just connected, he said.In keeping with their garage band image, Hill and Williams both spend their days working on cars and trucks – Williams as owner of Rainbow Auto and Hill as manager of the Ken’s Korner Les Schwab. You’ll find Knauer at the Clinton Food Mart and Penney at Hanson’s Building Supply in Bayview.Rounding out the band is guitarist Brad Clare, a carpenter during the day with Custom Remodel of Langley, and Marty Hill’s wife Nancy.Nancy Hill holds the distinction of being the only girl in Girl Next Door. The guys say she’s the percussionist and background vocalist of the band, but she assigns herself a different job description.I’m the band mom, she said. Then in typical mom fashion added, I’m excited for them. They’ve all worked very hard in their off time to make music. And they’ve stayed with it. They play good music. They really do.Girl Next Door plays mostly for private parties, local festivals and fairs and at the American Legion Hall on South Whidbey. They also plan to play at a Deception Pass music festival in August.If you don’t get out there the music just stays in the garage, said Williams.The group formerly called themselves 60-Cycle Hum but there was a question about who owned the copyright. So why would five guys in the back of a garage pick the name Girl Next Door as their second choice? Perhaps the name, like the band itself, defies a simple definition.It’s about all the things you want to do but don’t have to do because it’s enough to know you want to, explained Marty Hill.Huh? responded a couple of the other band members, obviously perplexed by Hill’s elucidation. Knauer took a different approach.We just want people to love us like the girl next door, he said. “