Does anyone remember Icicle Works? "A Whisper To A Scream"? Anybody? No? How about The Jam or The Hoodoo Gurus? Well, these were all bands that emerged during the post-punk return to pop songwriting. The Beaumonts weren't there - in fact, the band just got here - but they could've been. It was all rock 'n' roll, with its main components set to agitate the other elements as much as they supported and blended them.

And that's how The Beaumonts do it, too.

The melody gives the bird to the rhythm and speed. The band's obvious ska jones throws fun in the face of the lyrical sobriety. And The Beaumonts' nonchalance contradicts the hip-shake and energy.

Could this spell chaos for the fearless trio? Must music's push and pull always be proportionate?

Back at The Beaumonts' lair, the band is hard at work getting rid of that new band smell and answering those aforementioned questions. The trio - Steve Pizzuto, vocals and guitar; Mark Phillips, drums; and Dave Goldstein, bass - breaks into the number "Big Ticking Time Bomb," a locomotive tune so fast it makes The Reverend Horton Heat sound like Jimmy Stewart on Thorazine. Pizzuto slashes away at his giant purple guitar as the other two make with the giddy-up. Yet it isn't just a need for speed. Gears get shifted throughout the rehearsal -- and throughout the band's every-growing catalogue, for that matter - as the players goose the atmosphere with sonic textures and moods. There is an underlying beauty throughout.

The three band members stand in tight formation, with bass and drums on top of one another and Pizzuto, who doesn't clear the ceiling, standing with his head cocked to the side. The band is bigger than the room. And the music is bigger than any room it goes off in.

At this point, Pizzuto's pedigree is the most apparent. He slung bass in 5Head, a sorely missed Rochester ska band of relentless energy and humor. When The Pip split the all-girl White Cotton Panties, the band relaxed its gender bias and signed Pizzuto on. His time in that band led to joining up again with WCP singer Meghan Taylor in Bee Eater. This, along with myriad likes and loves, pops up in The Beaumonts' boogie.

"It's like when I make crab cakes," Pizzuto says. "I'll go on Google and get six recipes and circle all the stuff I like. That's what I'm trying to do here. I love Amy Winehouse, I love Fishbone, I love the Might Mighty Bosstones, I love my old band 5Head. I wanna take all the good things I like in all that and see what I can't make with it."

Goldstein worked with Pizzuto in The Rock Steady All-Stars, a short-lived ska collective. Phillips spent time drumming in Racecar Bob, Cherry Gun, and currently plays with Klezmer crack-ups Hypnotic Clambake. Neither musician was put off by the crab cake metaphor, and Pizzuto lured them in with words like "Elvis Costello and ska."

"Fun, interesting music that catches my ear," says Pizzuto. "I haven't heard anyone lately that's made me go ‘Holy crap,' except for the Quitters."

All three overlap considerably in background, as well as their vision for the band. According to Pizzuto, wisdom and diplomacy borne of age helps.

"I think I set more realistic goals," he says. "But at the same time I'm also cognizant of being beyond diplomatic. It's like the same thing in relationships. When I was younger I was stepping all over everyone's toes and not knowing it because I was having a grand old time and I was really excitable. With 5Head I was pushing the band as far as it could go and sort of ignoring the cries from other members - ‘Hey man, I can't do all the things you want to do.' That's why some of them wound up leaving."

It sounds like the humor that permeated 5Head is still prevalent and relevant. But that isn't necessarily so, according to Pizzuto.

"Most of the stuff that's being written right now is a little dark, actually," he says. "Stuff that was written back then was still dark but, because Rob Reed and Dan Snyder were such geniuses at taking something that was either really painful or really sad and making it seem hilarious, we managed."

Besides, chicks dig the darker stuff. Right?

"I wanna know who sold me the rumor that I was gonna get laid playing any kind of music," Pizzuto says. "It's never happened. I just get stuck with the bar tab at the end of the night."

The Beaumonts

w/The Quartershots

Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Ave

Tuesday, November 18

8 p.m. | $5-$7 | 454-2966, myspace/nybeaumonts