Cheek-pinching cuteness and punk rock seldom make good bedfellows. You could spend a whole afternoon listing popped-up punk atrocities (most with three word names) whose stylist-induced adorableness has propelled them to heavy alt-radio rotation. But in a few select cases, like our own Whore Moans or newly christened (via Denver) Seattlites the Rot Aways, the band’s talent so far surpasses their cutes, it makes that shit go together like pork chops and applesauce. Playing pure ’77 punk with an earnest vigor you can only deliver if under thirty and woke up that morning on a friends floor, the Rot Aways seem to capture what punk is all about in it’s most genuine form, while still looking good enough for girls to ignore the fact they kinda smell. That my friends, no stylist can replicate. Dirty Money and the Allergies open.

Listen to The Rot Aways’ “Outta Control.”

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Tue., Nov. 20, 9 p.m., 2007