Eight members of the Dirty Rotten Vipers came to Provincetown for the season last year, and the band made the alleyway next to Marine Specialties on Commercial Street their summer stage. This year, most of the musicians could not find housing here — but two of them are back, with a third on the way, bringing a slice of New Orleans jazz to the Outer Cape.

Twelve musicians made up the group when it first got together two years ago on a corner on Royal Street in New Orleans. Like Commercial Street, Royal Street is filled with antique shops, restaurants, and galleries — a perfect spot for busking.

Johanna Rose, a singer and bassist, says she can’t recall exactly when the Vipers became a band. The 12 just kept showing up on the same corner every day at the same time to busk. Last year, they created their first album, Tip the Band.

Will Harrington, a singer and pianist, grew up in Dennis and has been coming to Provincetown to busk since he was 13. During the summer, he lives on a sailboat docked in Provincetown Harbor. After sunset he can be heard hammering the keys on Commercial Street. In the winter, he immerses himself in the vibrant New Orleans jazz scene, where he busks for the other half of the year.

Provincetown resident and musician Billy Hough, who’s mentored many musicians here, calls the Dirty Rotten Vipers Harrington’s “student exchange program” between New Orleans and Provincetown. Harrington’s Cape connection, in part, made the band’s journey between the two lively towns possible.

The music of the Vipers feels suspenseful, with thumping rhythms and Harrington and Rose’s vocals overflowing with soul.

Harrington is here now and so is trombonist Meagan Gillis. Rose hopes to arrive in Provincetown by the end of July, and says her pet California king snake, Dreamboat, might make an appearance — from his basket, of course.

She can’t say for sure how many other bandmates will make it to Provincetown this season, which is unsurprising for a group composed of itinerant musicians.

“I mostly came from the ragtime early jazz scene,” says Gillis. In addition to trombone, she plays the timpani with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans and busks with her xylophone during fall and spring. She joins Provincetown’s music scene in the summer.

Gillis met Harrington when she first came here in 2018. “I think it probably took him like three seasons to remember my name,” she laughs. “He had a piano that was so out of tune, we couldn’t play together. But he gets a new piano every year.”

Harrington obtained this summer’s beat-up piano from the Governor Bradford restaurant. “Somebody’s always getting rid of a piano,” he says. “I’ll fix it up a little bit, and then I’ll keep it on the street, bang on it for a summer, right? Then it falls apart.”

His musical roots are anchored in punk and rock — he used to play Jim Morrison songs in front of Provincetown Town Hall with a guitar and two amps.

Rose is another exception to the band members’ mostly jazz origins. She began learning the bass at age nine, playing classical music. But growing up, she found herself immersed in the punk scene. The genre centers on simplicity and minimal instrumentation, with drums, bass, gritty guitar chords, and lyrics that are shouted more than sung.

Now, jazz and blues are Rose’s favorites: her voice sounds best in these styles, she says, and jazz is most fun to play on the upright bass.

The band’s combination of musicians with varied backgrounds gives the Dirty Rotten Vipers a distinct sound. “It’s a bunch of dirty punk kids playing jazz music,” Gillis says. As for the rest of the band’s name, she explains that a “viper” is a weed smoker in jazz argot.

“It’s nerdy stuff,” says Rose. To her, jazz is expansive, and there’s always more to learn from playing with other people.

For years, Gillis had been a master busker of the xylophone. Then she picked up the trombone — it was Harrington’s idea. She’s been playing ever since: it works well with the Vipers’ music.

Gillis compares picking up new instruments to escape artistry: “You fake it till you make it, and it’s fine as long as you don’t have self-worth attached to how good you sound.”

Last summer, the band performed at Old Colony Tap, or the “busker’s bar,” as Gillis calls it, as well as on the street. “We’re just having so much fun,” she says. “Most of the people in the room are people we know, and they’re coming to hang out with us.” To her, it feels as if the musicians and the Provincetown community have grown together.

Hough says that Harrington and the Vipers have raised the bar for street music in Provincetown and created a tighter-knit busking community involving other bands, like the Old Reliable Alley Rats and the Simple Sisters. Gillis also plays in the latter.

Rose enjoys the creative energy of Provincetown. The audience “gives something back” both here and in New Orleans, which she says reenergizes her singing and playing. “Both cities have a really deep appreciation for music.”

Harrington wants to bring more of the “magic of New Orleans” to Provincetown. He performs on Sundays at 9 p.m. at the Old Colony, holding the time slot for the rest of the band. Rose says she is excited about joining him soon, and she welcomes all snake enthusiasts.