This Thursday, DCist will host Unbuckled at DC9, featuring Deleted Scenes and Georgie James. We typically preview our Unbuckled bands for you all before the show, and today the job is especially easy. Music Editor Amanda Mattos covered Deleted Scenes in April as part of our Three Stars local music feature, and today we’re running that post again. Enjoy, and we hope to see you Thursday.

“Local band.” It’s one of those combinations of terms that usually softens up our critical senses. Like “school play” or “free beer.” It’s a qualification that makes us tend to go a little easier, allow a little benefit with our doubt. You may not stop in your tracks if you heard that band on the radio, but for a band from your stomping grounds, well, they deserve some credit. That distinction makes it all the more special when you discover a band, locally, that you’d appreciate and praise no matter their geographical derivation. See where I’m going with this? Deleted Scenes is a great band. Not a great local band, but a great band in general.

The band took the stage at DC9 on Monday night after an impressive and all-heart performance from Parachute Musical. There’s a lot of love between these two bands, so between that and the EP that had been impressing me for a few weeks, my expectations of Deleted Scenes were growing steadily. The opening bars were a bit rough, but things picked up without much delay, and the show did not disappoint.