Every once in a while, a band comes along that sparks my interest enough to leave my house and go to their show.

Though not a long time or original fan, I couldn’t pass up the chance to see The Juliana Theory, a Western Pennsylvania five-some when they came to South Street’s Pontiac Grille Friday, Dec. 1st.

After arriving 15 minutes early, but 10 minutes too late to get tickets, my party and I thought our out-of-the-way excursion and $10 dollar parking fee were wasted until the door guard cut us a deal.

We were to come back at 7:30pm, which was when The Juliana Theory’s set was slated to begin.

The guard let us in for $5 and shoved us into a small clearing in the back of the bar.

The maximum 120 persons occupancy seemed to be well exceeded with teeming fans, both old and new, as we squeezed ourselves in. I was more than impressed with the band's set.

The band was playing with such bravado and emotion that it led me to believe that the band’s new album, “Emotion Is Dead,” was wrongly titled.

Brett Detar, the lead singer, had an essence about him when he moved, bouncing his head to their music.

Classified as Pop Rock, The Juliana is a clever blend of wailing guitars, engrossing synthesizers, heavy bass and thumping drumbeats.

The melodies are catchy and the lyrics deep.
The first song we were able to catch when we arrived was "Into The Dark," a venerable masterpiece from Emotion Is Dead.

The crowd was swaying and singing along to other songs such as "We’re Standing On Top Of The World" while I stood, watching and listening in amazement.

I always believed that a band’s live performance shows the best part of their music and The Juliana Theory revealed their world to me.

As highly talented pre-recorded musicians as well as on-stage-performers, The Juliana Theory has entered my favorites and will remain for a long time.