Nightmare Boyzzz

Within a few seconds of listening to any recent Nightmare Boyzzz tune, one thing is immediately apparent: these guys are all about having a good time. While this could surely be said about many bands, few are actually able to distill that sentiment into memorable, hook-filled music with such effortlessness. On Wednesday, the boys of Boyzzz will swing into town to share with us their anthemic power-pop.

Hailing from Muscle Shoals, AL, the group has been keeping busy. The Boyzzz are currently on their third tour of the year. (The previous jaunt brought them to Athens a few months ago for two consecutive nights of jubilant rock and roll.) A split 7-inch with fellow Alabama rockers Younger Siblings was released in February, and a full-length record is set to be unleashed sometime later this year.

That split, and the handful of Boyzzz singles available online, have more meat to them then the past few years of anemic indie-pop combined. One would have to look back to groups such as Big Star, or at least that band's acolytes, like The Replacements, to find a similar kind of melodic bombast.

Like those bands, the Boyzzz use catchy melodies to disguise the occasionally dark lyrical content of their songs. But by keeping things short and sweet, the band deftly avoids allowing these darker aspects to turn its music into something depressing—or, worse, boring. Live, the group displays passion and enthusiasm for its material. The end result is a truly unique experience: a rock show where the audience has as much fun hearing the songs as the band does playing them.