MONDAY
>> Everyone, we’re stumped. We’ve been scratching our heads for weeks now, trying to figure out why three bands with as much buzz following them around as Cold War Kids, Midlake, and Sound Team (pictured) would be playing the Black Cat’s back stage, especially when nothing else is booked upstairs. We loved Cold War Kids when we saw them last month. Midlake is winning fans left and right, including a very hyperbolic Jason Lee. And Sound Team’s Movie Monster has got to be one of this summer’s most blogged about albums. We’ll continue to wonder, and get there early. Black Cat Back Stage, $10, 9 p.m.

>> With several bands behind him (including a band you might have liked in the 90s, Marvelous 3), a solo Butch Walker has been going it alone since 2000. When he’s not too busy writing hit songs for Avril Lavigne and Pink, or producing the band resulting from CBS’s Rock Star supergroup, he’s helming his solo career. Butch Walker and the Let’s-Go-Out-Tonites take on the 9:30 Club tonight. with Boys Like Girls and As Fast As. $15, doors at 7:30 p.m.

>> The Third Programme have a legitimate right to their British invasion sound: one of their members is actually from England. Oh, and their music isn’t half bad. Catch them tonight at Iota with Gist, who aren’t half bad either. $10, 8:30 p.m.

TUESDAY
>> Candlebox is still touring. Did you know that? We’ll avoid the temptation to make a pun about being left far behind. At the 9:30 Club, $25.

>> Do you like your punk with a side of cabaret? If you said yes, join DCist Jason at the Black Cat’s back stage to see The World/Inferno Friendship Society. We can’t wait to find out how many of their many, many members they’re able to squeeze on that little stage. $8, 9 p.m.

>> Etienne de Rocher is a singer/songrwiter from Tuscaloosa. If you’re into Brendan Benson, we think you’ll like him too. At Iota, $10, 8:30 p.m.