Titus Andronicus, Vivian Girls, Spider Bags - Maxwells, January 14

What if you could genetically engineer a hybrid between the mopey, self-pitying Jersey emo brigade of the early 00's and the new breed of Springsteen-fueled party-anthem Garden State bands like Gaslight Anthem? You'd probably wind up with something that sounded a lot like Titus Andronicus.

Local bands with one record out don't normally sell out Maxwells - on a weeknight, no less - but Titus Andronicus are definitely on a roll. Mega-indie XL Records will re-release the band's debut album "The Airing of Grievances" (originally released on DIY indie Troubleman) next week, and the band's about to embark on a national (and then European) tour with indie dance-pop darlings Los Campesinos! Combine that with a pretty strong local buzz and you've got the hottest act out of the Garden State since, well, the aforementioned Gaslight Anthem.

On the album, frontman Patrick Stickles too ofteen sounds too much like Conor Oberst when he does the tortured, quavery-vocal thing; but live, everything gets cranked up a notch or three and the band sounds as much like Bouncing Souls as Bright Eyes. Yes, the lyric sheet reads like a suicide note from a morbid 16-year old; the trick is that Titus Andronicus sets its existentialist message ("no future" is a persistent theme) to Uber-catchy singalong melodies and fist-pumping, moshpit-inducing beats.

The band itself looks like they were sent over from Central Casting: Hoodies, flannel, beards, yada yada yada, but they do know how to work a crowd. Stage presence isn't something you can fake or learn, and these guys have it. Which is probably what won them the slot opening for Los Campesinos! The two bands don't really sound alike, but they both pump up the same kind of energy.

Frontman Patrick Stickles kicked off the set by rasping some of the lyrics to "Thunder Road" into the mic while the band vamped behind him, and they ended the night with a sloppy but spirited cover of "Where Eagles Dare." At least these Jersey boys fly their state colors with pride. In between, they played one new song not on the album that sounded a lot like Danny & The Juniors' "At The Hop," only in typical T.A. fashion, the hook on the chorus is a paranoid screed - "Enemies are everywhere." Nothing quite sums up the band's modus operandi like their theme song though, which has the rollicking raunchy gait of an old sea chanty set to punk rock tempo and endlessly repeats the line "Your life is over."

You also have to love the band's show-offy flirtation with pop culture and literature; they copped the band's name from Shakespeare's worst play, the title of their album is a reference to the Festivus episode of Seinfeld, and the lyrics quote everything from Camus to Hunter S. Thompson to the Bible to the Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel (and yes, I had to look that up.)

So yeah, let's raise a glass to Titus Andronicus, who sing songs about hating life and wanting to end it all set to catchy punk tunes the Ergs would have envied. They're on tour right now with Los Campesinos, then they do Europe, and eventually they'll have to come home and write a new album. It'll be interesting to see if they can somehow surmount their Bruce and Bright Eyes influences next time around and come up with something truly original.

Opening were the all-girl Brooklyn trio Vivian Girls, who have also been on something of roll lately, snaring all sorts of hot gigs (opening for Sonic Youth at the final McCarren Pool show, to name just one) and headlines, as well as the hearts of Brooklyn bloggers and indie promoter Todd P. The gals do a reverb-drenched retake on the new-wave girl-group sound of bands like the Bangles, but they seemed to be suffering at this show from bad stage sound since the bass and drums frequently fell out of sync. I'll have to catch them on a better night, and with all the shows they've been playing lately, I'm sure I will.

The opening band, Spider Bags, proved to be a really pleasant surprise. A trio originally from NJ and now relocated to Chapel Hill, NC, the band do a punky high-speed whiskey-soaked version of Dylanesque blues, sort of like "Highway 61 Revisited" played at 78 RPM. Singer Dan McGee got up and sang/played harp on the Bag's "Waking Up Drunk" with Titus Andronicus and it was obvious how much each enjoyed the other's music. I snagged both the band's LP and most recent 7-inch so look for some reviews soon.

Good Samaritan and punk rock entrepeneur Jon Vafiadis (aka Jonnie WhoaOh) helped collect coats for the NY Coat Drive, and then corralled a bunch of his friends to help sort and bag them at the HQ of NY Cares on Saturday morning. Here's a photo of the WhoaOh Records crew at the facility. We helped sort through the donations and put them in bags for distribution to the different shelters, hospitals, churches, and other organizations who get the coats into the hands of the needy. My sincere thanks to Jonnie for putting this all together. With the economy going to hell and government cutting back everywhere, volunteerism is going to become even more important in 2009. Let's all do what we can.