A party jam band and some reggae-funk rockers? Okay, makes sense. But throwing pop nü-metal into the mix? That's just weird. Then again, so is Alien Ant Farm. Though they might seem like tomorrow night's odd men out, when these southern California smooth criminals roll into town, the rock might be too loud to even notice.

Alien Ant Farm formed way back in 1996, the members quitting their day jobs to focus on the rock. The band self-released its debut album Greatest Hits, which ended up winning a Best Independent Album prize at the L.A. Music Awards. The record helped them win the attention of Papa Roach, which allowed the band to secure a deal with the giant DreamWorks Records. With the release of ANThology, Alien Ant Farm exploded onto the nü-metal scene, with its cover of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" catapulting the band to near-overnight success.

The ride to the top was more than a little bumpy for the Farm boys, though. While the band was on tour in Europe, a bus accident killed the band's driver and severely injured frontman Dryden Mitchell. Alien Ant Farm moved on quickly, though, contributing music to the Spider-Man soundtrack as well as putting together this year's TruANT, yet another collection of hooky hard rock.

Kenny Knapke (junior-computer science) thinks the night's lineup is just a little bit too strange to take piece by piece.

"I don't quite see how those three bands can be playing together since they're all so different," Knapke said. "They should all play at the same time."

Morgan Evans (senior-journalism) feels there's at least some cross-over between the bands' fanbases.

"I can kind of see 311 and Alien Ant Farm playing together," Evans said. "O.A.R. doesn't really make much sense to me."

Amy Schuster (junior-journalism) agrees.

"311 and Alien Ant Farm seem to go together a little more than O.A.R.," Schuster said. "I think you'll have your die-hard 311 fans, and all those kids who have fond drunken memories of 'That Was a Crazy Game of Poker.' I guess Alien Ant Farm might attract jaded Michael Jackson fans for a rocking rendition of 'Smooth Criminal'?"

Evans thinks the show's lineup may serve to actually turn fans of the three bands away from the event.

"I'd think they'd sell less tickets [with an eclectic lineup such as Friday's] because you're just making people pay more money to see bands they might not like," Evans said.