IT'S HAPPENING TONIGHT! >>>

Backstage Bar & Grill Tacoma - Sixth Avenue. EroticCity Princetribute. 9 pm. $8-$10.

Capitol Theater Olympia - Downtown. Andre Nickatina, Xperience, Puget, Q-Storm. All Ages. 8 pm. $20.

• Nowadays Olympia rappers are a dime a dozen. Few have been here, and still remain, since the scene REALLY started popping off in the early 2000s. In the '90s we got an occasional Andre Nickatina or Digital Underground show, but when the new century came around promoters were ready to take a chance on our small city, bringing big-name acts through on a consistent basis to legit clubs and venues. A difficult task at the time for these promoters was not only finding talented local artists, but ones they could count on to help promote the shows in exchange for an opening spot on the bill. One artist that quickly proved capable in this department was a skilled rapper by the name of Puget. Read my full feature on Puget here. - Nic Leonard
  

Hell's Kitchen Tacoma - Downtown. D Town Rebels, Leadership By Assault, Greater Of Two Evils, Noisy Hoodlums. All Ages. 6 pm. $6-$8. I Defy, CFA, Attitude Adjustment, Konkhra, Contrast The Water. 9 pm. $5.

Jazzbones Tacoma - Sixth Avenue. Cold Note, Bump Kitchen. 8:30 pm. $10.

Louie G's Pizzeria Fife. Amanda Hardy. All Ages. 8 pm.

Mandolin Cafe Tacoma - Central. Bluegrass extravaganza continues: The Oly Mountain Boys. All Ages. 6:45 pm. The Understory. All Ages. 8 pm. Barleywine Revue. All Ages. 9 pm.

The New Frontier Lounge Tacoma - Dome District. Umber Sleeping, Gems, Death By Stars. 9 pm.

• The string of words that make up the name Death by Stars sounds at once full of portent and utterly frivolous. This dichotomy seems to seep into and help define the band's music as well. Combining the biggest, most direct qualities of punk, electronica and psych-rock, Death By Stars has cooked up a cutting, immediately hooky sound. There's an invigorating quality to Death by Stars that seems to transcend the band's basic formula of spacey, psychedelia-informed vocals encased in programmed beats, exploding into life-sized dance-punk refrains. In a live setting, the band - led by frontman Patrick Galactic - veers into performance art territory, with light shows and costumes. It's a delirious soup - all surface, really. But what a surface it is. Death By Stars plays with local favorites Umber Sleeping and Seattle-based instrumentalist Gems at The New Frontier. "We rarely get to play with bands that fit together so well," says Galactic in a press release for the show. "We are big fans of Umber Sleeping and Gems and are very glad to play with them." - Weekly Volcano

The Olympia Ballroom Olympia. Bob Marley Birthday Celebration, with Live Wya, High Ceiling. All Ages. 8 pm. $12-$15.

The Red Room Tacoma - Downtown. From Deeper Seas, A Hope Not Forgotten, Listen Closely, Illuminator. All Ages. 7 pm. $5.

The Spar Tacoma - Old Town. Stray Dogs Bluegrass. 8 pm.

Stonegate Pizza Tacoma - South. Kashmir (Led Zeppelin tribute). 9 pm.

Tahoma Tea and Co. Tacoma - Downtown. The Trasholes, Fun Police, Secret Wives, Yahtzee. All Ages. 7 pm. NC.

• I've tried to make it a point, when writing about bands, to avoid talking about the ages of the members of the bands I highlight. But I must impress upon you how young the members that make up Gig Harbor garage two-piece Trasholes are, if only to make it abundantly clear to you just how much they have their shit together. Both members are in their early mid-to-early teens, and their music is more sophisticated and weird than you could ever expect. Lead singer and guitarist Ian Call's voice rides that line between adolescence and adulthood, which only makes each voice crack sound that much more punk rock. It's exciting to see another young band following the lead of other shit-kicking acts like the defunct Freakouts and Durango 95. - Rev. AM

Traditions Cafe and World Folk Art Olympia - Downtown. Hot Club Sandwich. All Ages. 8 pm. $8-$12.

Uncle Sam's American Bar & Grill Spanaway. Half Of Infinity, Far From Given. 9 pm.

Washington Center for the Performing Arts Olympia - Downtown. Scrapartsmusic. All Ages. 7:30 pm.

• Like banging on shit? So do the folks behind ScrapArtsMusic, a Canadian performance outfit coming to Olympia this week to blow your mind. On the group's website, ScrapArtsMusic is described thusly: "An earth-friendly, Vancouver-based company that creates unforgettable percussion performances using kinetic instruments skillfully crafted from industrial scraps. 2. An entertaining contemporary invented instrument ensemble. 3. Five extraordinarily virtuosic and innovative drummers. 4. The result of transforming ‘scrap' into "art,' and ‘art' into'"music.'" Intrigued? You should be. The brainchild of percussion freak Gregory Kozak and designer Justine Murdy, ScrapArtsMusic may well prove to be the week's grandest spectacle. – WV
  

LINK: More live music tonight in the South Sound