I headed to the ASCAP showcase at Bar 13 to catch Youth Group’s acoustic set – which was amazing. This band is the next Coldplay – don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Singer/guitarist/songwriter Toby Martin and drummer Danny Allen are the core of the Australian band. Their second album, Skeleton Jar, - released in 2005 on Epitaph Records – is the perfect combination of pop and melancholy, largely due to Martin’s beautifully haunting voice. In the past week, I haven’t been able to stop listening to the record.

Afterward I was off to Crash Mansion. The Firebird Band from Chicago were up first. They were funky synth-rock and definitely worth checking out. The Chris Mills band came on next, and only after four or five songs did I begin to appreciate their music. In their first song I distinctively remember hearing the lyrics “I was high/But not high enough/I could still drive/If I had to” …

And later, in the third song, the lyrics “Totally fucked” were definitely slipped in a few times.