I don't envy aging rock stars. It seems like, for the vast majority, aging in the music business is a lose-lose situation. Most likely an aging rock star will never make music that's as creatively satisfying - or "good," as we'll call it - as the music they made when they were 20. Of course, this sobering fact won't stop them from trying (and repeatedly failing) to do so.

And if our aging rock star passes on the first option, the possibility always remains of giving themselves over to the ravenous beast that is show business and becoming a whorish husk of your former self.

Either way, always approaching fast from behind are the New. These young artists are hungry, innovative and, in some cases, able to do an aging rock star's shtick better than the aging rock star could ever hope to.

As I type these words, it's my hope that Bono is peering timidly over his shoulder at San Francisco's Vir. Chief among my reasons for making that statement is lead singer Sam Sloane's at times quite striking vocal similarity to the personally insufferable U2 frontman.

Though the rest of Vir's qualities are not immediately reminiscent of U2, it's not hard to imagine the band filling a stadium with their sound. It‘s massiveness these two bands share, with Vir delivering it in an almost shoegaze-y way.

"We try to reject the watery, washy kind of association of shoegaze and try to create something a little more aggressive, noisier and a little more experimental," says Sloane. "A lot of that 4AD stuff, in our opinion, sort of sounded wimpy, and there's not a lot of ethos to it. So, we try to bring something a little more blustery."

Vir's songs are dark, vaguely ominous tension-builders created out of relentlessly pulsing bass lines and bathed in guitar fuzz. They are rhythmic in that way that might inspire you to bob your head and tap your toe in the dim light of a venue. And when the tension is released, it should be enough to scare the leather pants off of Bono.

Vir

Sunday July 25, 10 p.m., no cover
Le Voyeur, 404 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia
360.943.5710

Tuesday July 27, 1 p.m., no cover
Rocket Records, 3843 Sixth Ave., Tacoma
253.756.5186