Rock is the official pastime of The Underground. Friday's old-fashioned line-up of guitars and drums at Hamilton's most rockin' place to splunk confirmed that, indeed, people still play real-live instruments and a lot of the kids are getting pretty damn good at it, too.

First act Lounge is a young band heavy on musicianship who, for all their inherent tightness, still have a ways to go in the stage presence department. Why so many apprentice lead singers hide behind their microphone instead of favouring connection with the audience is baffling, but Lounge's perky, if not too sociable, singer managed to warm into her role as much as her sailor cap as Lounge's clutch of songs progressed. Pink Floydian scale work jettisoned a much needed 'rock factor' into the band's energy and after a squawky first fifteen minutes. the band managed to breathe some life into the Underground's Friday night crowd.

Remember the days before Billy Corgan went all weird and actually had hair? Hamilton's Old Man Angst elaborates upon the trail started by Corgan and Co. back in the early 90's (all the way down to the requisite female bassist in stoic Allison Novak) summoning ghosts of bands like Live and, at times, Queensryche with powerful vocals and dueling lead guitars.

Drummer Andrea Fraser parcels out the rhythm for Old Man Angst like a multi-armed hindu goddess splicing 16th notes and snapping cymbals as if the sole world's creation depended upon perfect timing. Adding some rather hamonious vocals to Adam Carter's wind-stealing intonation, Fraser replicated an eerily similar shade of Eleventh Dream Day's Janet Bean. A set heavy on progressive arrangements, Old Man Angst doesn't do anything too new or original, but what they do, they do exceptionally well and above all, look like they are having fun doing it.

The last time we saw Rye was upstairs at Toronto's B-side during last year's CMW. At the time, Rye, while musically tight, seemed more of an afterthought - a side project in which busy band members could engage when on down time from their main squeezes. Things have definitely changed.

Maybe it was the larger stage that gave the four piece room to spread out, but this time out, Rye was a band with a definite vision and a definite leader in vocalist/guitarist Jeff Pearce. The man with bionic blades for fingernails, the ex-Moist bassist gave definitive shape to Rye's songs interlacing staright-forward rock and esoteric melodic explorations in a fixating, yet timeless, set.

Exploring songs from their debut release, Wolves, Rye traded in sensitivity for heightened contemplation on songs like "Radio One" and "Giant". Accentuated by Steve Nunnaro's precision drumming and what can only be described as "The Sean Kelly Experience" on supporting guitars, Rye's vitality favored an easy-going approach that was comforatably vexing to settle in with. An extended think piece, their set could have been five hours long and still too short. More Rye, please!