Usually, when we turn up for a show at the Black Cat’s backstage, we expect a relatively subdued affair. The smaller of the club’s two stages, the backstage usually hosts smaller, lesser known acts–bands who haven’t yet built a large or fervent enough fan base to fuel a raucous mainstage set. Thursday night, however, proved to be an exception to this rule. While both of the night’s performers are relative unknowns in these parts, that didn’t stop them from turning the backstage’s tight quarters into a massive pogo pit.

First up was Jaguar Love, an art-punk four piece from Portland whose roster reads like a who’s who of Pacific Northwest post-hardcore: Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato, formerly of the Blood Brothers and Jay Clark, formerly of Pretty Girls Make Graves. If you’ve followed Whitney’s songwriting in the past (both with the Blood Brothers and with side projects Neon Blonde, Soiled Doves and the Vogue), Jaguar Love’s sound will feel awfully familiar. Continuing where he left off with previous collaborators, Whitney writes fractured glam-punk anthems that are light on the machismo and heavy on the theatrics. Live, the band was tight, though its greatest asset–Whitney’s helium-sucking vocals–were buried deep in a muddy mix. Despite this fact, the band set a number of heads bobbing as Whitney sashayed across the stage in his typically flamboyant manner (believe it or not, he’s both straight and married). Unfortunately, while the members of Jaguar Love are clearly seasoned and talented performers, the band’s songs rarely rise to the same level as the Blood Brothers’ blisteringly heavy jams or Pretty Girls Make Graves’ mathy compositions. Regardless, judging by the crowd’s reaction on Thursday night, the bands’ members still know a thing or two about winning over fans on a show-by-show basis.