BUZZ BANDS

Riding back to the Danger zone

Six years ago, Harvey Danger was playing the KROQ Weenie Roast, with the Seattle foursome’s bouncy “Flagpole Sitta” reaching No. 1 that summer on the modern rock giant. This week, frontman Sean Nelson is fretting that nobody will show up Saturday night when the group plays the Troubadour. “The moment we were newsworthy seems like a long time ago,” he concedes.

Harvey Danger broke up in spring 2001, abandoning the push for its sophomore album, “King James Version” -- a sturdier, headier collection than the hit-bearing debut “Where Have All the Merrymakers Gone?” “In many ways,” Nelson said, “it was the classic story of a band that became successful but wasn’t ready for it.”

Nelson went on to team up with John Roderick in the Long Winters, assisting on two indie rock gems, including 2003’s “When I Pretend to Fall.” (The Long Winters play the El Rey Theatre on June 26.) Nelson’s amicable departure was a simple case of there being one too many songwriters.

On April 21, the 10th anniversary of Harvey Danger’s birth, Nelson and bandmates Aaron Huffman and Jeff Lin reconvened for a show at Seattle’s Crocodile Cafe. A new album is in the works, as is a Nelson solo work featuring contributions by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Brendan Benson and Texas indie rockers Centro-Matic.

Fast forward

Orange County quartet Melee, whose full-length debut “Everyday Behavior” is due June 29 on Sub City Records, plays Friday at the Knitting Factory and Monday at Chain Reaction. The Eugene Edwards Band not only displayed some furiously catchy guitar work last Thursday at the Derby, but frontman Edwards also virtually silenced a chatty crowd by starting the set with a riveting cover of “Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I)” in tribute to Ray Charles, who died that day.