Moaning Lisa

For its final local show before relocating to Los Angeles, Moaning Lisa gets a fitting sendoff: A Beamount Club gig on Wednesday, October 8, with former Poison pretty boy Bret Michaels. Moaning Lisa never embraced Michaels' brand of glamorama glitz or talk-dirty-to-me raunch. (He still indulges in the latter -- "Loaded Gun," from his latest solo album, is, for better or worse, not about firearms.) But the unapologetically accessible Kansas City quartet shares Poison's knack for climactic choruses and flashy solos. Break Me, its latest release, doesn't sound like a hair-metal relic -- its production touches and song structures are much more reminiscent of late-'90s alternative radio. But it's not so modern that it might alienate an audience that craves only action and satisfaction.

Break Me easily exceeds Moaning Lisa's previous recorded efforts. The band's artistic growth might not be evident at this weekend's concert -- its graceless rockers make better party fodder than its more melodic material -- but Moaning Lisa has crafted some soaring hooks. The group has always had trouble fitting into a rock scene that values more complex compositions, but at the Beaumont -- and in L.A. -- Moaning Lisa will get what it deserves: Fans who ask for nothin' but a good time.