Hit Pick

“Have you ever been alone after the party under the blue light?/Wondering where it all went?/Your youth, patience, sanity?” So begin the conversational lyrics to a slow, bombastic ditty called “Chasing the Dragon” — one of the more reflective moments on an otherwise loud and rabid batch of punk tunes from Denver’s 8 Bucks Experiment. Celebrating its “big fat journey” from suburban Northglenn to local punk stardom, Paige O’Meara, Joey Decline, Alfred O and Evan O welcome holiday stragglers and ne’er-do-wells alike to a CD-release party at the Climax Lounge on Thanksgiving night, Thursday, November 28. The band’s fourth and finest full-length album, Volume Junky (issued on its own homespun Blue Moon Recordings), blends buzz-saw guitars, throbbing rhythms and plenty of Fugazi-styled snarl into an exceptional brand of kick-you-groinside riot music. An 8 Bucks song was one of the bright spots of a recent tribute to hardcore outfit DRI (with whom the band just came off a full tour); the boys have also branched into scoring video-game music for Bill Harris Games. What’s a turkey-bloated punker to do once the table’s cleared? Why not Pogo with the band’s trademark limbless mannequin? There are worse alternatives to a night with the relatives.