Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., is normally a safe bet for a good time. But tonight, the bar's theme will be poison and death.
That's figuratively, of course. In reality, heavy rock band Poison The Well will headline the venue tonight, with opening acts The Bronx, Nora and returning band Every Time I Die.
Like other shows this semester, the multi-billed concert is intended to provide fans of harder music with more for their money and a chance to see some rising acts before the more recognizable main attraction.
But no two concerts are ever the same, and tonight's performances might have something else to offer its audiences.
Formed in 1998, Florida-based Poison The Well is a hardcore punk group that mixes heavy and melodic sounds into its music.
According to guitarist Derek Miller in an online bio, the different elements the group combines in its songwriting are never contrived, but rather, "100 percent honest expression."
Every Time I Die singer Keith Buckley said playing with a widely appealing group like Poison The Well is less stressful for his own band than some of the other artists it has opened for. Sharing the stage with groups that are on major labels with a certain type of audience -- such as Vagrant Records, which caters mostly to the emo scene with artists such as Dashboard Confessional and Saves the Day -- can alter the band's approach to reaching the kids in the crowd.
"It's good to see other things," he said. "Consciously or not, you're always influenced by what you're hearing."
Perhaps those new influences can provide a new experience for fans who have already seen the group in town -- it opened for hardcore bands From Autumn to Ashes in October and Thursday in April. Every Time I Die (ETID) has crafted its own sound out of "meticulously crafted guitar work, defined and punishing drums, intricately woven bass lines and darkly sarcastic and unorthodox lyrics," according to a press release.
"I think it's kind of an old adage at this point to say it's like Deftones mixed with Pantera," Buckley said, although he added that he does agree those influences appear in his group's music.
As the members of ETID have gradually finished up with school and other pursuits, the group has become a full-time focus.
But that doesn't mean its members are strangers to the road; they have spent much of the past five years performing up and down the East Coast and at several hard rock festivals, including a few dates on the Warped Tour.
Playing smaller club shows and giving the fans a chance to see several bands that would otherwise fall through the cracks, however, is something the group really enjoys, Buckley said.
"You get more for your money," he said. "That's what I love seeing ... That's how you find out about really good bands."
David Wells, director of operations for Crowbar, said he hoped a December show will establish a continuity with past shows in a similar vein, including the two ETID has already played at and September's Taking Back Sunday concert.
The groups often try to pack several acts onto the same bill in hopes of not only expanding the headliner's audience with fans of the other bands but also to allow those lesser-known artists to "ride on the coattails" of the main act.
"The idea is that it's a building process," Wells said.
The show also includes The Bronx, a group that seems to fit on the bill, as described by the All Music Guide, as a kind of "alt-metal group inspired by nasty '70s punk," only with more "depth and desire than most involved in the emocore/post-grunge punk rock revival." In addition, New Jersey hardcore group Nora, who released a split disc with The Dillinger Escape Plan in 1999, will perform first.
Doors for the all-ages show open at 8 p.m., and the music begins at 9. Tickets are $8.
