X-Ray Press is a band that - for better or worse - has been given the gift and curse of progressive rock - and uses it for evil. The band's interpretation of prog shows them taking their extensive musical backgrounds and smashing them all into a hardcore mold.

"I'm a classical composer by trade," says Paurl Walsh, X-Ray Press lead singer and guitarist. "So I think a lot of the modern classical stuff factors in - Philip Glass, Terry Riley, mid-20th Century minimalism, as well as a lot of romantic and neo-classical stuff from the early 20th Century kind of influences us a lot."

All of the members of X-Ray Press are classically trained in one musical discipline or another. This is a fact.

How, then, do we wind up with something that rocks as hard as their music does?

"On top of all that," says Walsh, "we're all fans of the post-hardcore stuff."

When you put stick classical training in a blender with a desire for noise and dissonance, as bands like King Crimson found in the ‘70s, progressive rock is what spews out.

X-Ray Press is another example of a band taking that drive and concept and bringing it forward into the new generation - one cracked eardrum and decimated brain cell at a time.

[Bob's Java Jive, X-Ray Press with, Trip the Light Fantastic, Oh Dear!, Thursday, April 1, 8 p.m., 2102 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 253.475.9843]