Buzz Bands

Limbeck’s tuneful travelogue

Memo to suburban kids in a pop-punk rut: Take the highway. That’s where Limbeck singer-guitarist Robb MacLean found the inspiration for the Orange County quartet’s second album, “Hi, Everything’s Great” -- a winsome, Americana-tinged collection of audio postcards from outposts across the U.S. “Coming from O.C. my whole life, it was great to get out and see the real world,” says MacLean, 24. “A lot of the songs were written while looking at pictures I’d taken when we were on the road. They gave me ideas and a sense of nostalgia.” His vignettes, framed in settings from Utah (the Beehive State) to Tucson, from Ohio to the Golden State, mark a startling departure from the crisp, shout-it-out power pop on the band’s debut three years ago. Credit maturation and perhaps a record collection that included a little twang. “At one point I lost my CD wallet, and I had to go buy whatever was in the [bargain] bins,” MacLean says. Fresh off a tour last month with Oklahoma phenoms the All-American Rejects, Limbeck celebrates this week’s album release with a sold-out show Saturday night at Chain Reaction in Anaheim. “Then,” MacLean says, “I hope we can get back out on the road.”

Not so warped

Fans on the Vans Warped Tour can mix in a few good causes with their good music by visiting the Kevin Says: Take Action! area. They might even catch a couple Southland bands on the rise -- Stairwell’s rockin’ harmonizers are among the acts at the tour’s July 8 date in Pomona and July 9 in Ventura, and Melee, the latest signee to Van Nuys-based Hopeless Records, serves up its synthy power-punk July 10 in San Diego and July 11 in Long Beach. Punks for charity, you wonder? Well, the Take Action! effort offers nonprofit groups a chance at outreach. The Hopeless imprint Sub City Records, which donates 5% of the retail price of its CDs to the charity of the artist’s choice, has championed the National Helpline Network, the suicide-prevention organization that operates the (800) SUICIDE crisis line. Hopeless/Sub City’s ties to Warped are strong -- Thrice has hooked up to play the entire tour, and Avenged Sevenfold appears through July 15. As for Melee, its EP “Against the Tide” (as remixed by ex-Hippos, now-Dirty Little Secret’s Ariel Rechtshaid) gets re-released July 8.

Fast forward

Melodic rock band Telecast plays a 3 p.m. in-store set Saturday at Sea Level Records in Echo Park before supporting visiting Brit-poppers Steadman on Wednesday for the final night of the latter’s monthlong residency at the Viper Room. ... Innaway plays its experimental pop Saturday at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa. ... Hawkeye, purveyors of Americana who feature the harmonies of Kalai King and Dawn McCoy, marks the release of its “Red’s Cafe” EP on Saturday at the Hotel Cafe. ... Joining Minibar on stage at the sold-out show Saturday at the Troubadour was Rami Jaffee of the Wallflowers; Minibar invades Spaceland on Tuesday. Seen in the throng: ex-Tories frontman Steve Bertrand, with news that “Joyride,” a collection of demos he’d been circulating, would see release later this year.

-- Kevin Bronson

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