A sharp point to their songs

Leave the cookie-cutter love songs to somebody else. Ross Golan wants to tackle the issues -- politics, war, corruption and a society seemingly driven by all-consuming narcissism. On its debut album, “Reagan Baby,” due out April 20, L.A.-based trio Ross Golan & Molehead take on the radical right, Martha Stewart and even Marshall Mathers, using spare, stabbing guitars to frame the frontman’s pointed missives.

“Most of the music on the radio is about love, and in a way that’s a really selfish point of view,” Golan says. “Nobody my age is talking about the world.”

His visceral, beat-intensive “polirock” has been shaped by personal and geopolitical events, including a visit to Tel Aviv in 2001 that put him in proximity of a suicide bombing at a nightclub that killed 18 people. The 24-year-old songwriter, with bandmates Billy Mohler and Bryan Head, also finds plenty of fodder here.

“Martha Stewart” was written right after the media empress was hit with federal charges relating to a stock sale. “As a working-class person, how could you not cheer?” Golan says. And on the track “Dear Slim,” Golan calls out Eminem for rapping about his insular world.

“An artist has a responsibility to himself; a celebrity has a responsibility to society -- Eminem didn’t have to go the commercial route,” Golan says. “If you have that talent, if you’re that intelligent, do something good with it. So I thought I’d mock him on behalf of the little people.”

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Ross Golan & Molehead: Today, 11 p.m., at the Fold at Silverlake Lounge, 2906 Sunset Blvd., L.A., $11; Friday, 9:30 p.m., at the Viper Room, 8852 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; $15; Saturday,

7 p.m., at Chapman University’s Hutton Sports Center, 1 University Drive, Orange, $20.