There's no such thing as rock 'n' roll. It's not that rock is dead and has to be revived or anything; it's just that rock isn't some pure form, untainted by those other filthy, bastardized genres such as punk or country or even, heaven forbid, R&B.

Oh, the feigned horror of it all.

It is exactly this interdisciplinary approach to rocking out that will be showcased at tonight's Roustabout!. The weekly event will let loose at 11 at The Darkhorse Tavern, 128 College Ave. Cover for the 21-and-over show is $3.

For starters, there's Appalachian punk rockers Shotgun Rooster (they've got a washtub bass -- no joke). Then there's indie-power poppers Okay Paddy. And to top it off, DJ Eric Foemmel will be spinning doo wop and rockabilly tunes into the early hours of the morning.

John Parise, guitarist for Scranton-based Okay Paddy, said the band's influences include Superdrag and Nada Surf. Okay Paddy just released its first official album, Hunk, in August on Prison Jazz Records, and the 24-year-olds are currently at work on their next disc, which should drop this summer.

"We recorded the album by ourselves last January, and it took awhile to get it out and mixed and find a label," Parise said. "Since it came out we've been promoting it and playing a lot of out-of-town shows in Philly and New York, and we've gotten a really good response."

Unlike Okay Paddy, State College-based Shotgun Rooster doesn't have an album out, but washtub bassist Jim McCarthy said the band's got something like 30 songs recorded and will gladly burn a disc for anyone who wants.

McCarthy not only plays washtub in the surf rock-meets-hillbilly band -- he also plays the scrub board.

"Lowe's Home Improvement provides me with my equipment," McCarthy said. "I was classically trained in piano, but I went crazy one summer three or four years ago, and got rid of all my keyboards. I had this dream about a banjo one night so I bought one. Then someone in the band brought over a washtub bass one evening and I fell in love with it, and that's what I continue to play."

Shotgun Rooster's interesting instrumentation (there's a fiddle, too) and punk rock approach to Americana make the band an in-your-face experience, McCarthy said.

"Either people love us or they hate us, and if they hate us they haven't listened to us enough," McCarthy said. "When you see us you don't just get music -- you get an entire performance that engages the audience. You're forced to look and listen."

DJ Eric Foemmel attested to that.

He's seen Shotgun Rooster perform around town, at both Tony's Big Easy, 129 S. Pugh St., and Zeno's, 100 W. College Ave., and described the band as rollicking "hillbilly porch music."

Foemmel (graduate-leisure studies) hosts a show on WKPS-FM (90.7), The Lion, from 7 to 9 p.m. on Sundays, during which he plays tracks from the 1940s, '50s and '60s, including doo wop, bee bop, rock 'n' roll and rhythm 'n' blues. Foemmel takes his love for this sort music even further -- he's the dude who hosts those '50s sock hops of the VFW, 139 N. Barnard St., a couple times each semester.

"They started out as parties at my house, then they got too big," Foemmel explained. "We usually get about 150 people. Most people kind of hang around the bar, but once the liquor kicks in they start dancing."

The last ever sock hop will go down this Saturday at 9 p.m., because Foemmel is moving back to his homeland of California once he graduates in a few months. Cover to that 21-and-over event is $5, and proceeds will benefit a yet-to-be-determined charity.