Last time I saw the Pattern play Goleta, they pulled up in a gold Plymouth Voyager. They moped around out front of The Living Room(quietly out of place amidst the bevy of disaffected adolescents), set up their gear without much of a fuss and then blew the roof off of the club. They ended up sleeping on my couch, for which they still owe me, and now they owe me for this review.

The worst thing I can say about them is that they are not the Peechees. Singer Chris Appelgren still lays out the “I’m a Sexy Mosquito” vocals he honed in that band. Now, backed by new and eminently talented musicians – including Jason Rosenberg from hardcore group St. James Infirmary and Jim Anderson from smelly punk heroes Blackfork – the songscapes he helps create are fresh and exciting. The Pattern plays with all the traditions of hard rock: guitar solos, big chords, a punchy backbeat. The results are markedly fresh, partially by virtue of Appelgren’s unique voice and Anderson’s sprawling drumming, but more, I think, from the band’s status as an East Bay independent- super-group.

For every moment the band sounds like AC/DC, there’s another where it sounds like the Stooges and yet another where it sounds like Pussy Galore. The Pattern smooshes 25 years of rock ‘n’ roll evolution into a 6-song CDEP, a sure sign the band members did their homework during the 10 or more years they’ve been active musicians in the Oakland underground scene. The Pattern shows promise of doing amazing things.

I already find it amazing that they managed to leave a Budweiser tallboy in my dryer.

[DJ Fatkid is a sexy noseeum]