Although named after a 1970s kung-fu movie, the musicians of The Five Deadly Venoms concentrate on bluegrass, not martial arts.

This two-year-old Brooklyn-based band will perform at the Kirk Avenue Music Hall in Roanoke on June 13 at 8 p.m.

Elio Schaivo, Rick Snell, Rob Hecht, James Kerr, and Ian Riggs are touring this summer for six weeks to promote their debut CD release. They will be in states all over the country, including Colorado, Arizona, and California.

“There is something special about most places we have been,” said founding member Schaivo, the mandolin player and a vocalist for the band. “Roanoke is very cool though. Kirk Avenue Music Hall is a great venue and is run by very cool people.”

The Five Deadly Venoms feature traditional instruments such as mandolin, fiddle, guitar, dobro, and upright bass.

“I think our sound is intense and rich,” Schaivo said. “There is definitely a highly adventurous spirit in the compositions and arrangements. We have all the right ingredients working to make very tasteful music.”

Although the band has just reached its second anniversary since its inception, the members of the band say they share a close relationship with one another.

“Aside from the incessant joking, I would say for sure playing with these guys is the best part,” Schaivo said. “They are so good and elevating as musicians.”

The members of The Five Deadly Venoms consider the band to be unique in its sound and appearance, although they say they also integrate traditional bluegrass as well.

“[We have] everything from dreadlocks to silver teeth to tattoos,” said Hecht, the fiddler for the band. “The Venoms incorporate the blues, jazz, classical, rock, funk, but most importantly bluegrass in their sound.”

One of the strengths of the band is the devotion of the members to the music they play.

“We cater to a wide crowd as we play traditional bluegrass, Béla Fleck-inspired new grass, and good written songs for the average listener,” Hecht said. “[The band has] good vibes, quick learners, some of the best pickers I’ve met, vision, commitment, and likeminded souls.”

Rick Snell, the guitarist and a vocalist for the Venoms, has been playing since his adolescence and has the opportunity to play with a variety of musicians.

“I think what we bring to the table that maybe the average bunch of guys does not is this indefinable kind of synergy in our musical personalities, if I may be so presumptuous,” Snell said. “That’s a phenomenon that’s kind of hard to get the words around to explain, but to me the end result is that I always feel like something is happening when we play, you know?”

The originality and dedication to music, as well as the tight bond between the five musicians, is what being one of The Five Deadly Venoms is all about.

“These guys are good friends beyond being great musicians,” Snell said. “There is a level of friendship that exists when there is a heavy degree of creative energy being exchanged.”

The Five Deadly Venoms are making a stop in Roanoke to showcase this “exchange of creative energy,” something the band says is definitely worth seeing.

Rachel Shapiro is an intern for the New River Voice and a music enthusiast who happens to enjoy dreadlocks, silver teeth, and tattoos.