The Attic at the State Theatre, the little brother of the 571-seat venue below it, only holds about 80 people. But it has more to offer than just coziness.

Kristy Cyone, the State Theatre's marketing director, said the "acoustic jam room" upstairs is a lot cheaper to operate than its downstairs counterpart and offers a good venue for "local, up-and-coming artists," such as the Study, the Surgical Staff and Matthew and the Judes, all of which will be performing there Saturday. The show is being hosted by Asylum, a music related student club.

"What we wanted to do with the Attic is give a place for them to play and hang out," she said. "It's kind of a laid back venue."

Cyone also said the State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave., can build relationships with the bands in The Attic, which can lead to gigs opening for bigger bands downstairs.

Jess Nambudiri (junior-journalism), Asylum treasurer, said the theater's status as a venue was a big part of why the student club decided to book its first show of the semester there.

"The State Theatre is a really reputable venue," she said. "For these bands in particular, it gets their name out."

Nambudiri also said Asylum would be booking a few more shows at the Attic this semester for the flexibility it affords.

"Booking things on campus means a lot of paperwork and other restrictions," she said. "And this way, it's more relaxed without the time constraint."

Derek Salazar (senior-accounting) plays drums for the Study, the four-piece band headlining the show. He said the band has something of a "classical feel," and that it fit well in the intimate concert space.

"Our album is all acoustic instruments," Salazar said. "There's no distortion at all."

Guitarist and singer Eric Morelli, also the band's primary songwriter, said the Study had a "darker" sound and that he liked to pick and choose from across the musical spectrum, listing Cursive, Bright Eyes and Kanye West as influences.

"As opposed to just focusing on one thing, it's better to pick from all over," he said.

Also playing the show is the Surgical Staff, composed entirely of grad students enrolled in Penn State's psychology department. Guitarist and singer Joe Beeney (graduate-psychology) said

his band, too, had a varied list of influences.

"The band is really split," he said. "Aaron [Mitchell, cello] and Joe [Santamaria, guitar] are into classic rock, and Mike [Stevenson, drums], Brooke [DiLeone, keys] and I are more into indie stuff." He listed Band of Horses, Iron and Wine, Ryan Adams and Emmylou Harris as personal favorites.

Beeney said the band started out as a folksy, alt-country band, but since adding a drummer about eight months ago, it's gotten a bit heavier.

"Before, our approach was really slow," he said. "Now, we try to be pretty up-tempo and play a bunch of songs really fast."