THE BARE WIRES

>>> Friday, April 29

Given the amount of mutual admiration between Olympia and the Bay Area's respective rock scenes, it's a little surprising that Christmas and Bare Wires - tourmates on a three-night Pacific Northwest jaunt that includes a stop at Northern Friday - only just met last month. The Olympia foursome and Oakland trio became acquainted down in Austin, Texas, at the 25th Annual SXSW music conference. Ty Ziskis, co-founder of Seattle label CMRTYZ (who co-released Christmas' phenomenal self-titled full-length), prompted the encounter. "Ty made some T-shirts for us," Bare Wires founding member Matthew Melton explains. When Melton and bandmates Fletcher Johnson and Nathan Price, garage rockers with a fuzz-soaked spin on vintage pop and rock, went to pick up their custom silk-screened swag, they bumped into Christmas, co-performers at the SiiickXSW mini-fest at Cheer Up Charlie‘s. "They seemed like cool fellas, so we were like, ‘Hey, let's put something on,'" says Melton. - Jason Baxter

[Northern, Bar Wires with Christmas, The Maxines, 8 p.m., all ages, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]

SEACATS

>>> Saturday, April 30

Tacoma has a problem developing bands like SEACATS. It seems like if you want power pop you have to leave Tacoma, and probably even pass by Seattle. You have to hit Kelso. Or Bellingham. Or one of many other Washington towns that's unselfconscious enough to nurture a Weezer-esque pop rock act - a band much more concerned with fun and sun and young love than our comparatively dour locals. In the middle of a typically bouncy SEACATS song, the band even finds time for a buzzy guitar solo. That should tell you something. SEACATS is a young band - and former Sound Off! competitor - and they sound like it, in the best way possible. Their future's so bright they gotta wear shades. Optimism like that is a joy to listen to. - Rev. Adam McKinney

[The Spar, with The Diving Bell. 8 p.m., no cover, 2121 N. 30th St., Tacoma, 253.627.8216]

KYLE HILL BENEFIT

>>> Saturday, April 30

On the scale of two-wheeled assaults, Kyle Hill of the bands Goldie Wilson and Bandolier came out about as unscathed as one could hope for in a scooter accident. He broke his arm, trashed his scooter and skidded through one of the two layers of jeans he was wearing, but he retained his ever-valuable skull and its irreplaceable contents. A close call, to be sure. Saturday will see a benefit show at The New Frontier, held in Hill's honor, and thrown by Lino Fernandez, to help Hill out with medical bills and the repair of his scooter. Besides being involved in bands like the Dignitaries and Murder Party, Fernandez is Hill's bandmate in the retro-pop outfit  Bandolier. While both Bandolier and Goldie Wilson practice a retro-pop sound, they interpret the shared time frame of the mid- to late-1960s in different ways. Bandolier has the breezy, carefree feeling of a band that may have been featured in Pop Gear in 1965. Meanwhile Goldie Wilson, with a new album due in the summer, approaches the early days of psychedelia with a more nuanced edge. - Rev. AM

[The New Frontier Lounge, Bandolier, Goldie Wilson, Follow the Kites, Cardboard Clouds, Andy Glover, DJ Melodica, Saturday, April 30, 9 p.m., $5, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4062]

THE CELESTIALS

>>> Wednesday, May 4

The Celestials are a moody bunch of post-punkers. They bounce back and forth between Billy Corgan-esque screeds, shoegaze blurriness and spacey ruminations - but that hang-dog moodiness is ever-present. When the sun peaks out from behind the clouds, as on "Sprout Up Branch Out," the reprieve it provides feels sunnier than it has any right to. But even in that reprieve, lead singer Max Keena's voice retains its snide air of cynicism, its slight sneer. Whatever the opposite of a cloud with a silver lining would be - it's negative. That's the Celestials. In a good way. The Celestials fare better when they're keeping close to their early '90s alternative rock base, to that murky territory where invention and reinvention occupied the very same space. - Rev. AM

[Le Voyeur, with Tadoma, 10 p.m., No cover, 404 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia, 360.943.5710]