The Panix

Local thrash crew the Panix is not a boy band. Still, its barely post-teen members — bassist Emmett, guitarists Alex and Nico, and little drummer boy Wolfgang — are all young, skinny, and hairless enough to qualify as punk sex symbols of the über-dude Henry Rollins kind. They've got the tats, the hole-ridden tees, and the long, untamed black hair. It's a punk thug formula that has seemingly worked wonders, earning the band a photo gallery of Panix-branded groupies on its MySpace page while also pushing its live audience ratio into almost unheard-of territory for hardcore shows, a 60/40 male/female split.

Don't be mistaken, though, in addition to having the image game refined to some sort of illicit science, the Panix is also a brutal musical beast, a self-described "super-fucking-fast-hardcore-thrash-stoner-doom-down-tempo-blues clusterfuck of a band" that produces a supernaturally precise, hyper-heavy sound along the lines of Hatebreed, Pantera, and Suicidal Tendencies. Get your fix this Saturday night at Churchill's when these young, skinny, hairless über-dudes bash out their trademark mosh of slurred solo vocals, group chants, guitar wanks, and more carnal intensity than any girl (or boy) can be expected to resist. Another incentive not to miss the show: It's gonna be one of the only places to buy the band's brand-new CD.