Republica Hails Grunge-Free Age

If the peppy cheerleader type catches your fancy, you’ll probably be just mad about Saffron.

The smiling, bouncy frontwoman of the new English dance-rock band Republica wasn’t mellow yellow or any other shade of laid-back on Wednesday, turning the stage of the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana into her own combination gymnasium and go-go platform.

In a monolithic but fetching performance, Saffron hopped, leaped, shuffled, spun, shadowboxed and punched the sky like a pep-squad leader sans pompons. Meanwhile, the four boys in this machine-driven band turned the clock back 10 years, to a grunge-free era when Britannia’s blips, squiggles and programmed techno-pulse beats ruled the KROQ waves, when it was a New Order world and Depeche was the mode.

Recognizing that grunge and punk have happened, Saffron delivered her confrontational catch-phrases with a brashly assertive bite akin to Elastica’s Justine Frischmann, while Jonny Male sometimes intruded on the twin-keyboard sound with slashing, sustained guitar chords.

The dance-rock ‘80s flashed by in a flurry as Republica raced through nine of the 10 songs from its debut album. At this point, barring growth and diversification, the band’s term will probably be limited to the proverbial 15 minutes. If so, it would be worth remembering as a fun interlude.