With Homecoming fast approaching, State College is geared up for a weekend of pomp and celebration, not to mention football and prodigal alumni.

But after the dust has settled, music fans can expect another kind of homecoming in the week to follow: the return of The Clarks and Ingram Hill to Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., Tuesday night.

Beginning tonight in Richmond, Va., the two bands will kick off a month-long tour together that will take them up and down the eastern United States.

The tour closes out in Memphis, hometown of pop/rock quartet Ingram Hill.

"October is jam-packed full of shows," said Ingram Hill vocalist/guitarist Justin Moore, as he and the band sat in traffic on the way to a gig in Mississippi.

Twenty-two shows, in fact, including the one at Crowbar. The last time the two bands played that venue alongside one another was for a sold-out crowd.

"We're definitely looking forward to going back to the Crowbar," Moore said.

Ingram Hill mostly tours in the South, but its been playing exclusively throughout the Midwest and East Coast for the past six or seven months in support of its forthcoming, "more mature-sounding" album.

While Moore said the band gets a better reception from its native geographic region, he's hoping the dates will bring exposure to a wider fan base.

"It never hurts to get as many people to know about you as possible," he said. "You can only play the same market so much before people start to get sick of you."

That doesn't mean the bands won't be looking to satisfy the masses. Depending on the locale of the venue being played, they plan to swap opening and headlining spots throughout the tour, egos aside.

Hailing from Pittsburgh, The Clarks, who played at last year's Penn State Homecoming concert, are considered to appeal more to the northern crowd. The band has likewise recently finished a soon-to-be-released new album.

Scott Blasey, The Clarks' vocalist/guitarist, said the Ingram Hill-accompanied shows are only sort of a national tour, in order to prime fans for the album's release and resulting in a more comprehensive outing next year.

Blasey would welcome an improvement in publicity. Blaming the trading of its music over the Internet, he said the band was disappointed by the sales of its last album.

"The changes in the industry have been drastic. We
still gain fans, just not through the record label. I have mixed feelings overall," Blasey said.

That's all the more reason for The Clarks to be excited to show off its new stuff for all the fans, regardless of how they got into the band. With a wellspring of new material, the band is drifting away from staple covers, such as Prince's "Kiss" and Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On."

"Anytime you're writing new songs, it's always more exciting to perform those," Blasey said.

Pittsburgh native and Clarks' fan Heather Lenze (senior-marketing) said she is looking forward to seeing The Clarks expand its repertoire.

Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance, $14 at the door.