On an early Monday morning at The Saloon, 101 Hiester St., Katsu is playing covers. But that doesn't mean the band has to like it.

"We do the covers to pay our bills; we are an original band," drummer Keith Lingenfelter said.

Lead singer Dennis Fallon wants his band to be taken seriously but said it's hard to find the right balance between covers and originals, especially in State College.

Example: As the band broke into the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" at The Saloon, a female fan leapt onstage and began swinging around the mic stand. On the floor, a train of women danced in single-file, drinks in hand.

"But this beats waiting tables," Fallon said.

So how is Katsu satisfying both its own interests and those of its rowdy fans? With a CD release party for its brand new disc of original material, Disaster, at 10 tonight at the All American Rathskellar, 108 S. Pugh St.

"Everyone's really excited to do this, especially at the Rathskellar, where they got started," Ginny Buckley, the band's publicist, said.

JR and Katie will open the festivities at 8 p.m., and when Katsu hits the stage, the band's two-hour performance will be broadcast live on WQWK-FM (97.1).

"The CD is really good," said Chris Rosengrant, manager of the Rathskellar. "These guys are long-time friends, and I think it's going to be a big night for them."

After nearly eight months of tooling with the band's first release on SAM Records, Fallon said the hardest part of the process is the waiting.

"We're chomping at the bit to get out and promote this puppy," he said.

By default, Fallon considers Katsu a "modern rock" band in the sense that it exists in the present day. However, he's quick to point out the variety of genres that influence the band's original sound.

He cites hip-hop as having an impact on his own vocal style and attributes other genres as his bandmates' influences, including classic and alternative rock, reggae and ska.

"It's pretty obvious where everyone's influence comes from when you stop and listen, but as a whole, it's us," he said.

As far as the content goes, Katsu wasn't shooting for the moon.

"We didn't go for any statements," Fallon said. "We just wrote ten rocking songs about all kinds of things: relationships, bad women, creepy guys ... There's even one song about prison. We went for the rock jugular."

Now, with the date of the album's release upon them, the members of Katsu know the rest is out of their hands.

"Fingers crossed, we're just gonna drive ahead and play our music," Fallon said. "Sheer perseverance and blind faith take you through this."