Ah, upstart college bands. You provide much-needed collegiate water-cooler talk about campus. (I presume, having never been to college, there are a lot of water-coolers in college.) You dream so big; you love so deep. You fill those (roughly) four college years with boundless quantities of mirth and youthful oat-sowing.

I want to be you, upstart college bands, but I cannot. And you know that. And I kind of wish you'd keep quiet about it.

Gone are the days of flag-pole-sitting and telephone-booth-people-stuffing, but you persist in keeping college fun and only tangentially related to higher learning. This is as it should be.

Shall we meet one of you, upstart college bands? I think we should.

Electric Minge is a band that revels in the spirit of classic rock, placing an emphasis on solid songwriting over the more common college band tendency for self-conscious and distracting style. It's substantial, is what I mean to say. Good old-fashioned rock ‘n' roll delivered with youthful exuberance. They even sound relaxed, like they've got this shit down. It's hard not to pick up on the band's confidence.

Kirsten Thom is the frontwoman, and it's here where Electric Minge will sink or swim. She's tasked herself with providing a classic rock sound with a capable female voice. Luckily, she pulls it off. Thom's voice wails when it needs to, albeit somewhat restrained with a kind of cool Liz Phair-ish deadpan. It works.

Asked if they plan on recording a proper record any time soon, bassist Kyle Durkee tells us, "We've just been recording on a [one song] at a time basis. I think we're overdue for a long recording session and just hammering out several tracks."

But - as always happens - Electric Minge's college years are unfortunately nearing an end. (Or maybe fortunately. Again, I've never been to college.)

The challenge, upstart college bands, is unleashing yourselves on the rest of the world.

Good luck, Electric Minge.

[The Den @ urbanXchange, Friday, Feb. 5, with The Gypsies, Warner Housecat, Womberang, 6 p.m., cover TBA, 1932 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 253.572.2280]

[The New Frontier, Sunday, Feb. 7, with guests TBA, 7 p.m., cover TBA, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]