The Hanks are a 6-year-old Los Angeles-based four-piece that produces appealing, heartfelt alterna-pop with tight, multi-meter rhythms, New Wave-tinged keys, horn embellishments, and the melodic vocals of lead singer/guitarist Josh Grondin, who alternates between soothing croon and beseeching wail. The heavy touring DIY-fers self-produced their first album in '05 and sold more than 10,000 copies before catching the attention of indie label Cobra Music while playing a show at SXSW in '06. Cobra re-released the band's debut for national distribution, but The Hanks went back to their grass-roots for their sophomore full-length, Distance, which they began hawking from their MySpace page in March and have been touring to support it ever since. Thurs., Aug. 21, New World Brewery, 1313 Eighth Ave. E., Ybor City, $7, 813-248-4969, aestheticized.com.
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2008.