Tonight's Roustabout! will feature event virgins Chalk Outline Party, hailing from Pittsburgh, and Dropsonic of Atlanta. Roustabout! ringleader Jeff Van Fossan said that together, the groups will create a post-punk/heavy rock sound for the evening that the crowd should enjoy.

"Dropsonic has a heavier, harder rock sound that reminds me of early-era Smashing Pumpkins ... before they got stupid," Van Fossan said. "It's not metal, but it's pretty heavy rock 'n' roll. Chalk Outline Party's sound is more like the 1970s-era groups Television or Roxy Music."

Chalk Outline Party singer and guitarist Aaron Jentzen described the group's sound as "underground art rock" and said the type of music they play was influential in picking the band's name, which some might find a little offbeat. "We had this name when we were playing in college and thought it was pretty cool," Jentzen said. "A lot of our music is either really upbeat or really dark-sounding, and we thought the name Chalk Outline Party was fitting. It's kind of like The Cure -- if you listen to their singles on the radio, they're poppy, but if you listen to the album you find it's a lot darker. We combined sinister rock and fun in our name to portray our manic tendencies."

Jentzen said he and group members met at Grove City College, which is north of Pittsburgh.

"We started playing for fun, and after school I moved to California," he said. "I called [guitarist] Brian Sproul up because I was miserable, and he was also miserable at his desk job, so we said, 'lets start this group.' "

Since then the group has played in cities such as New York, Cleveland and Detroit and has just released a new CD, A Plan Lost in Dreams. Jentzen said they plan on hitting the radio this summer, which should speed things up for the group.

Jentzen said he met Van Fossan at a show in Pittsburgh where both Chalk Outline Party and Van Fossan's band, The Bullet Parade, were playing.

"Roustabout! has hosted a lot of bands that we associate with from Pittsburgh like Shade, Black Tie Revue and Camera, and they've all said it's a great time," Jentzen said. "We're trying to hit new cities, a lot of colleges, to build interest, and we figured we'd never been to State College before so we want to see what's it's all about."

Jentzen said that although Chalk Outline Party has played many places, its favorite is where it all started in Pittsburgh. "It's this legendary rock club called Gooski's," he said. "It's just a fun, dirtball rock bar."

Tonight Brian Stokes will be DJing the event, setting the mood before, in between and after the bands play. "I play mostly Brit pop, some current indie music and '80s underground," Stokes said. "The music I play is kind of eclectic. I try to play what people like and most people at Roustabout! want to dance."