Hailing from Harrisonburg, Va., the indie pop quartet Shapiro will make its annual cameo in the State College music lineup tonight.

This this is third time the band has performed at Roustabout!, with shows the past two falls.

Tonight's show at Bar Bleu, 114 S. Garner St., will be Shapiro's final stop on its 2008 fall tour. Spin specialists DJ Dave Zak and Joe Diamond will bookend the set.

Currently, the band is re-recording some of its old songs for its first full-length album, which should be released at the end of this year or early 2009 with a mix of the new and old, drummer John Granofsky said. For the past year and a half, plans to record the album with Ben Folds producer John Painter has been a slow going, he added.

Shapiro's manager and booking agent, Daniel White, broke down the group's individual traits.

He defined John Granofsky as a smiling chum, guitarist Nathan Granofsky as a voracious spaz, singer and pianist Jeremy Teter as a pensive introvert and bassist Carl Shapiro as having a Northern smooth style.

Since its formation in 2003, the foursome has been overtly bound by familial relations.

Brothers John and Nathan Granofsky are cousins with Teter.

To keep middle school classmate Shapiro from feeling left out of the loop, the band was named after him.

Touring has played a prominent role in the band's exposure since it re-

leased its five-track EP You Are Alone in 2005.

The EP was recorded in a closet, auditoriums and bedrooms at a time when the band was low on cash flow, drummer Granofsky said.

"I'm hoping the closet phase is over," he said. "It's much nicer to work in a professional studio."

John Granofsky added the band rarely books hotel rooms while on tour and typically resorts to "bumming a place to sleep."

Jesse Ruegg, Roustabout! promoter, said the audience has responded positively to the band's previous shows, mostly because of its great stage presence.

"Their personalities really come through in their stage performances," White said.

Shapiro has often been compared to Spoon, The Lovin' Spoonful and a blend of Ben Folds Five and Radiohead, according to Buzzgrinder.com, a music news Web site.

The band writes catchy pop songs with big choruses and resonant hooks, Ruegg said.

"They incorporate piano and synthesizers, but I wouldn't call them a piano-rock band like Ben Folds Five is a piano-rock band," he said. "They're better than that."