"Sweet tunes" are taking on a whole new meaning.

2*Sweet (By A Thread records) will be headlining tonight at Dragon Chaser's Emporium at 8. The show, presented by a new student-run booking company known as Skylar Booking, is also featuring The High Court (I Surrender Records), Lay Waste and Takanawa.

For fans of Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance and old-school Saves the Day, the Chicago-based band 2*Sweet will be taking over the stage with their pop-punk music and catchy lyrics. Those partial to a heavier sound shouldn't be discouraged. Dave Cronin, the band's bassist, relished the fact that, "We definitely have a hard-rock influence that sets us apart from the more trendy, popular bands of the genre."

2*Sweet, along with The High Court, have just begun their nation-wide tour. Making their way through New York, Virginia, Florida and Ohio, 2*Sweet will be promoting their debut EP, Burning Alive in the Prairie State.

Although the band has previously created some well-received demos, this EP is the band's first studio production under By A Thread records, a Chicago-founded record label.

"I feel as if we really found our niche in this EP," Cronin said. "We got our song-writing down ... we definitely now have a distinct 2*Sweet sound."

The tour will also help gather more big-brand attention to the pop-punk band, which will hopefully lead to a contract with a larger record label.

The band has a lot of backing from Andrew Visnovsky, a show organizer for Skylar Booking. "I think they're going to get really big, really fast," Visnovsky said.

Visnovsky added that he hopes this show, along with future shows presented by Skylar Booking, will finally begin the well-needed movement in "jumpstarting the local music scene."

The small student-run booking company was created last semester out of the lack of a venue, in hopes of building up a musical repertoire.

"We want to get people aware that there is a music scene around here," Visnovsky said. "Through this show with 2*Sweet and The High Court, we're trying to get more people interested in what's going on."