BUZZ BANDS

Ballad of the bar

Fatigue is a recurring theme on the Reputation’s second album, “To Force a Fate,” and no wonder. Frontwoman Elizabeth Elmore wrote the new batch of hooky guitar rock and keyboard-tinged ballads during a year she was completing coursework at Northwestern School of Law -- not to mention leading her Chicago quartet on two tours. “I worked harder last year than I have ever worked before and harder than I ever hope to again,” says Elmore, 27, whose band plays Saturday at Koos Cafe in Long Beach, Sunday at Chain Reaction in Anaheim and Tuesday (with the Lot Six and the Go) at Spaceland. Elmore, who earned notice from Rolling Stone magazine (among others) fronting the late-’90s indie-rock band Sarge, acknowledges “being a little looser” with the new saccharine-with-a-slap songs, which trade in the currency of relationships and finger who’s holding the chits. “This is kind of a Hail Mary,” says Elmore, who graduated in January and plans to take the bar exam this summer. “But the two weeks in December when we were in the studio, I was writing 250-page papers.” If the results are as catchy as the Reputation’s 2002 debut, she credits the contributions of bandmates Joel Root and Sean Hulet: “I think they were probably stoked not to have me in their business.”

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Fast forward

You can tell Outrageous Cherry’s record by its cover: “Supernatural Equinox” looks as if it had beamed in for the last episode of “Star Trek.” The band brings its retro-but-not-tired psychedelia to the Silverlake Lounge tonight.... The Peak Show and the Sirens help Go Betty Go celebrate the release of the punky Glendale foursome’s debut EP with an all-ages show Saturday night at Smokin’ Mirrors, 4928 Hollywood Blvd.... Politically minded punkers Bobot Adrenaline (playing Monday at Spaceland) will record an album this spring with Tommy Stinson at the controls.... Onelinedrawing, the nom de emo of Jonah Matranga, plays Friday at Chain Reaction behind the new release “The Volunteers.” Matranga is also recording with a band called Gratitude, a project for a major label.