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 on 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 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.

The attraction was mutual. Christmas' Dave Halegua says that the band is stoked for their dates with Bare Wires, having bonded with the band while shaded from the oppressive Austin heat in their tour van.

But whereas San Fran rockers like Nodzzz and Brilliant Colors have friends and enthusiasts in the South Sound (and vice versa), Melton and Co. are new to the two scenes' cross-pollinating potential.

"As close as we actually are, sometimes it's tough to tour straight up and know what all's going on up there," says Melton.

The two West Coast musical hotbeds share a reputation for gestating awesomely talented acts, and both have a palpable vibe of long-haired looseness, though Olympia seems to fall more on the punk side of the punk/garage schema, while the opposite seems true for the Bay. Bare Wires, in particular, are undoubtedly garage rockers, with a fuzz-soaked spin on vintage pop and rock. Their 2010 LP, Seeking Love, is a fleet, fresh distillation of their old-school influences, with nary a song past the crucial three-minute pop music time limit.

"We've always listened to a lot of '60s garage, like 13th Floor Elevators, but then we started to get into more (bands) like Suzi Quatro and Slade and '70s glam-type stuff," Melton says. This emphasis on glam grandeur elevates Seeking Love to anthemic, arena-ready levels, though Bare Wires, like the best garage outfits, prefer the dingier, freer vibe of house shows and dive bars. Having recently witnessed Christmas work a living room full of people into an aerobic frenzy, I can say without a doubt that the two bands are well matched. The Bay Area/Olympia romance continues.

[Northern, Bar Wires with Christmas, The Maxines, Friday, April 29, 8 p.m., All Ages, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]