Sugarcult are quickly-rising stars in a music scene saturated with hordes of look-alike and sound-alike punk bands. Not only do radio charts attest to their latest single’s popularity, but UCSD students themselves praise the band’s onstage prowess.

Erin MacKnight, a Muir senior, remembered the band’s performance at last year’s Muirstock festival.

“”Sugarcult had a lot of high energy. They really are a great performing band,”” she said.

Not only did the students notice the response, programming got the same electric vibe from the band’s performance.

“”They re-energized the audience. When they came on, everybody was standing, dancing, crowding the stage; they got the audience excited and moving,”” said junior Seth Klonsky, part of the Muir College Council committee who produced last year’s Muirstock. “”The committee was brought a whole list of band ideas; we listened to Sugarcult’s CD and found that their sound was the best, and in my opinion, they put on the best show.””

Students throughout campus will soon have the opportunity to see Sugarcult in action. Following the band’s popularity with the UCSD crowd, A. S. has invited them back to campus to play Porter’s Pub on Oct. 18.

“”We thought they did a good job at Muirstock and so we thought we’d bring them back,”” said assistant programmer Sean Mandel-Toren.

Sugarcult formed four years ago, but the band from Santa Barbara, Calf., started gaining real momentum by playing the Vans Warped Tour during the summers of 2001 and 2002, touring during the year with bands like Blink-182, Reel Big Fish, Good Charlotte, Goldfinger and Unwritten Law, as well as releasing their single “”Bouncing Off the Walls”” on the soundtrack too “”National Lampoon’s Van Wilder.”” Constant touring, however, is what has earned this band a healthy combination of both praise and criticism. While some critics on one hand criticize the band for looking like The Jam while playing mainstream-sounding power-punk anthems, others praise them for their energetic songs full of well-crafted hooks.

In any case, the critics are unanimous in one respect: Sugarcult distinguishes itself through their fun-filled live shows, both by playing energy-driven songs and interacting with the public. The band is playing a multitude of festival shows this month before heading out for a six-week coast-to-coast tour with The Ataris, so now is a good time to catch them playing in a small venue before increasing popularity propels them into headlining arenas.

This pub show is only the first of the year in a series brought to Porter’s by A.S. Programming officials hoping to invite three to four bands per quarter. The A. S. council tries to find a diverse group of bands by taking suggestions from students through reps from each college. Last year’s acts included Vanilla Ice and The X-Ecutioners, among others, bringing big names into a relatively small venue and making for an intimate concert-going experience.

The A.S. will also be using the pub show as a setting in which to continue its effort to register students to vote. Representatives at a booth will be available to help register students to vote in California and answer questions about voting in San Diego.

The Buzz: A.S.

Pub Show

Featuring Sugarcult

Tickets: $5 UCSD students, $7 general

Oct. 18 at 8 p.m.