Julie Ocean
The Red & The Black, Thursday, October 11

It had been seven years since vocalist and guitarist Terry Banks played in a band. Fellow bandmate Jim Spellman had played more recently, but more than a decade had passed since he played with Velocity Girl, the D.C.-based indie-pop group that reached mild stardom during the '90s.

When the two took the stage at Iota a couple Saturdays back, along with bassist Hunter Bennett and drummer Alex Daniels, it was in a different decade and in a new band: Julie Ocean, named after the eponymous Undertones tune. Despite the newness of the group and the nerves that accompany any return to stage, the quartet set the room abuzz with its alternative to the District's dominant rock and punk scene: straight-up pop.

"We were all rather stunned at how many people after the show Saturday came up and said, 'Wow, it's so great to hear someone playing [pop],'" Spellman recalls. "You'd think more people would do this energetic, fast pop, but there aren't many ... maybe that's kind of old school," Banks adds.

A throwback or not, Julie Ocean is marching onward with its catchy, melody-driven songs and lighthearted lyrics.[Washington Post Express]