The Lights

There's always going to be two kinds of punk rock: on one hand, you've got the kind that looks the part; you know exactly what kind of music the kids listen to as soon as you see them. Then there's the other punk rock; working artists who seethe with a quiet anger that's harder to spot and more menacing. The Lights fall squarely in the latter camp. Discordant, cold, aggressive; they'd be as at home sharing the stage with the Stooges, the Fall, or Spacemen 3 as they have been playing with the Obits, McClusky or Franz Ferdinand. Bassist Jeff Albertson, guitarist Craig Chambers and drummer P.J. Rogalski make up the Lights and, believe me, this is a band focused, sharp and at its fighting weight.

A young band flexing their muscles, The Lights first arrived in 2003 with Beautiful Bird. With it, they reminded Seattle just how brutal a power trio could be, and instantly won the heart of their hometown music scene. Then came Diamonds & Dirt in 2006, their first for Wantage USA. This album introduced the band's rich sound to the world at large with time on the charts at KEXP, WFMU and others. Sundance and Cassavetes Award winning director, Lynn Shelton, directed the video for their blazing single from Diamonds & Dirt, "Setting Sun". Now comes, Failed Graves. The album's title refers to the life-span of most bands these days--one to two years-- and the fact that the Lights, in 2010, are still triumphantly, defiantly here.