"I'm always looking around a room and going, 'Okay, who's full of fucking shit here?' And usually, the answer is everybody," Ben Weasel tells me over the phone from his Madison, Wisconsin residence.

Producer Tim Pagnotta calls them the pioneers of post-punk soul. Makes sense, because Alt-rock trendsetters the Neon Trees are getting some major sun through a new deal they inked on Mercury Records.

Formerly known as Reality Stricken, Delaware Valley rockers The Escape's recent transformation is a wee more involved than the aforementioned name change.

I was sitting in my office enjoying a glass of whiskey. I'd just closed a case. Something about a bunch of mixed-up kids from Iceland. They go by the name Seabear, and I was celebrating.

The blower rang, interrupting my thoughts, so I picked it up. "Speaking," I said. It was the editor. Bright. Talented. Ambitious. The kid's got moxie. Would I be interested in another assignment? he asked.

Boston-based Bad Rabbits have been playing together, in one form or another, for six years. Their original venture, The Eclectic Collective, was an indie hip hop group. Two years ago the band restructured their lineup, retooled their sound and re-launched as Bad Rabbits.

Still Life Still is a Canadian band who love America. Or at least singer/songwriter/guitarist Brendan Saarinen, 24, does.

Inside the North Star Bar, leading up to an empty echo-filled dining area, Tab the Band sat around with Sophia Varoumas after they played a set in February. The Perry boys talked about the band pranks they pull, their jobs away from the band, what they write about - and their opinion on the fall of record labels.