In the Kansas City music scene, the Roman Numerals put the sex back in Generation X. The Numerals are seasoned rockers, graduates of great late-'90s bands such as Season to Risk (Steve Tulipana -- bass, keys, vocals), Dirtnap (Billy Smith -- guitar, vocals; Pete LaPorte -- drums) and Shiner (Shawn Sherrill -- keyboards, bass), who combine to cut a dark, dashing figure of a band -- one weaned on the brooding, dire postpunk of the Smiths and Joy Division. The song titles -- "Occupado," "Msr. Control" -- sound like headings in an international spy handbook, and the jagged, driving music, quickens like the pulse of an assassin on a suicide mission. If you haven't rushed the stage to dance by the fifth song, then the Roman Numerals will at least leave you breathless and sweaty by the end of every set.
