The first, instantly noticeable aspect of Fredericksburg, VA's Pash is the luminous voice of singer/guitarist Merideth Munoz. With a voice that partially recalls Rainer Maria's Caithlin de Marrais and has a rock edge reminiscent of Pretty Girls Make Graves' Andrea Zollo, Munoz has the vocal tenacity to halt anyone who may have stumbled across a track on their MySpace page.

Munoz met guitarist Erik Bruner-Yang and his roommate, drummer John Bibb, when they all went to school at The University of Mary Washington. Bruner-Yang, Bibb and bassist Ryan McLaughlin all grew up together in Woodbridge, VA. Despite this long history together, Pash has only started to take on an identity as a band worth knowing within the past year, mostly on account of their second album, The Best Gun, produced by Jason Caddell of Dismemberment Plan fame. The Best Gun proves that they have chops in the studio as well as onstage, but if you've not been initiated to their fiery live show, they'll be opening for Three Stars alums Jukebox the Ghost at the Black Cat on January 26.

Visit Pash online at: pashband.com or on MySpace at http://myspace.com/pashva

See them next: The Pear DROP! New Years Eve at Caroline St. in Fredericksburg or at the Black Cat on January 26th with Bellman Barker and Jukebox the Ghost

Buy their album at: Crooked Beat or online at Itunes

Questions for Merideth Munoz of Pash:

You guys have been a band now for five years, is that right?

Yeah, but we've only really been pursuing it for about a year, two years.

How long have you been taking this on the road?

The first time we went on tour was two years ago. That was the first time we really did a big venture and then we just played almost every weekend depending on our schedule here and there along the east coast. I think the farthest south we've gone is North Carolina. And then we toured this summer and we were just playing, if not every weekend then every other weekend.

I saw that you guys got pulled over by the cops outside of Pittsburgh? What happened there?

Yeah, I don't know what happened. I guess, in Virginia if you have your tag in the front in the dashboard it's okay. And we were trying to put ours outside and it didn't work so we just put it there and as we were driving by they got us and it was a bad experience. It was hot and it smelled like urine but then we all ate at Ruby Tuesday's afterward so it was okay. The salad bar has great croutons.

What are some other bands in the area that you enjoy?

Exit Clov, for sure! We played with them back in February for the first time and even though I've lived here I guess I was kind of out of it as far as the DC music scene goes. So we were looking to play a show and I heard of them and asked them last January and they couldn't do it and then they asked us to play with them at Iota in February and it worked out. We've played with them locally and we've played with them out of town and once in Fredricksburg and they're just great. They're so nice and down to earth and I always see Aaron at Jukebox the Ghost shows.

What are venues in the area that you like?

Black Cat of course: mainstage and backstage. I guess that's mainly where I go to see shows. I really love it. The Warehouse isn't there anymore but that was always a lot of fun to play there. We played at Iota that one time and I thought it was a great space and I'd like to play there again sometime. But definitely Black Cat is my favorite by far.

You're from Fredericksburg, but you claim Washington, D.C. on your MySpace profile. Any specific reason for that?

Well, the reason we changed that is not because we didn't want to associate ourselves with Fredericksburg. We started there, yes, but Erik's the only one who lives there. I live in NoVa and honestly I was going to try to find a way to do NoVa/D.C. but I couldn't figure out how to do it on MySpace. So I just put DC down because, really, I think that for us - you go to shows in D.C. and if you're not from NoVa it's hard to understand the whole concept of that you're part of the D.C. community, too. So, the city itself and the music and the atmosphere and the ethics and all that kind of stuff, we all relate to so I think that's why we changed that.

But Fredericksburg - we're working with a group called Fredericksburg All Ages Shows. Unfortunately one of the spaces just closed but they do great all ages shows and help out a lot of touring bands. Ra Ra Riot played last summer there. We played with Oppenheimer and These United States and that was great because when we go out on tour and meet bands that we really like we can try to help them out with shows. There are a couple of other places that are 21 and over. I know back from when we were in school we'd have some places that were just packed because you'd have all the college bands playing but I guess for touring bands, the all-ages space is really the best thing that's out there.

Did going to those shows growing up affect the music that you're making now?

Oh, yeah, definitely! I mean for me, I didn't really get into The Dismemberment Plan until college. But I know that Erik listened to them - he was really into all that scene when he was in high school going to Fort Reno. I was never allowed to go to Fort Reno but I remember being like 13 or 14 or something and my best friend called me up. She was like, "I'm going to this field in D.C. to see Fugazi" and I was like, "That sounds awesome!" but I wasn't allowed to go. I know there was a time when people would say there's a D.C. sound but really there's not because it's all so different. But I think there's just this energy in D.C. that I think is undeniable. I guess you could say now we have Ted Leo, Le Loup, Jukebox the Ghost and it's all so different and so eclectic but it's just this great energy coming out of here.

Do you feel a lot of camaraderie with the other local bands?

Yeah! I would say so and that's exciting for me to be a part of that because even though we've been around for quite awhile we've just been getting used to this group of people that make up the DC scene and I have to say it's great because everyone's so nice. Everyone we get along with really great and it's just a lot of fun.

Are there any covers which you guys like to do/have done more than once?

No. For New Year’s Eve we’re going to be covering Mark Ronson’s version of “Valerie” which was a version originally done by the Zutons. It’s a great song. Amy Winehouse sings it, we practiced it for the first time this week and it sounded really good. If it goes well we might do it at the Black Cat show. In the past we’ve covered – we did “Life on Mars” by David Bowie and then a long long time ago we did two Postal Service songs, like, kind of a medley for a talent show at college and they had asked us if we wanted to play so we were like – well let’s do something different, something fun and Erik used to have a bunch of crazy keyboards which made it a lot easier to do so all of us play keyboard and guitar and bass and sang and it was a lot of fun to do that to hear something electronic and not necessarily 100% instrument and take it and translate it so that was a lot of fun but we wouldn’t do that again I don’t think because the two times we did it were so good and that’s it and you just kinda have to let it go, I guess.

Do you have any New Year’s Resolutions?

I was thinking I should probably lift weights a little bit more, but, that won’t happen. And to be nicer, I think I want to be nicer. And I think that I need to just be less uninhibited. I guess it’s hard when you’re in a band to have inhibitions but you kinda have to just forget about and just email whoever, call whoever go up to whoever and then I’m kinda afraid to do that so I need to get over it and I’m working on it but I think next year will be a big year for us.