The Cells

With their feet planted firmly in this century, the Cells play a clean, loud blast of rock and roll for people like themselves who can't find anything they like on the radio. The Cells singer/guitarist Cory Hance's voice alternates between a weary deadpan and the snotty voice of a 15-year-old, sometimes all within the same song. Their melodic songs muse about doomed relationships, toxic celebrity lifestyles, bad behavior, the spooky corporate takeover of everything, finding beauty in strange places and hope in the face of disaster. The band's vocal harmonies soar over beds of angry guitars and pounding drums played by guitarist Pat McIntyre, drummer Randy Payne and bassist Rick Ness. Song after three-minute song captures the angry hum of urban life while making you want to throw your fist in the air like a kid at his first rock concert. The individual members of The Cells all moved to Chicago during the ’90s to be where some of their favorite records had been made. While they formed the band and honed their songs, the loud music that inspired them became the mainstream taste and diluted itself into something that, frankly, creeps The Cells out. Fighting for their lives in a world where music, like food, is often genetically designed to hit its target market, the Cells present their first album, We Can Replace You.