We The People Pledge to Rock You

f the thought of spending this Saturday night fighting the post-rush frenzy on West leaves you quivering, get yourself over to the Coffeehouse on East Campus, where local rockers WeThePeople will be playing to celebrate the release of their self-titled debut recording.

Comprised of Duke junior Dan Blau and four other area musicians, WeThePeople is all about rock and roll, pure and simple. They describe themselves as a "hard-hitting, foot-stomping, bluesy rock group." An accurate description, but what it leaves out is the clean precision that comes through in every song, whether it be a power chord-driven anthem or a softer, more subdued ballad. It is the sound of musicians who have been playing together long enough to know how to make everything fit together with nothing left over.

The funny thing is, they haven't.

The band's current lineup, consisting of area musicians Jimi Cole on lead vocals, Keith Warshany on lead guitar, Blau on rhythm guitar, Jay Rehm on bass and Wes Hare on drums, has been together for only about five months. Blau and Warshany had been playing together since high school, but they met the rest of the band through ads placed in an online musicians' ring. "Wes and Jay had an immediate connection as drummer and bass player as soon as they met," Blau said. "When Jimi came in as the singer, it was like everything came together."

After a few months of practicing, the group decided to cut a demo as a way to mark their entrance into the local music scene. They did all of the recording and mixing themselves at Warshany's own KRW Studios in Chapel Hill. The do-it-yourself approach gave them complete creative control over the recording, which Blau says was well worth the extra time.

"We decided we'd rather spend 200 hours working on it and have it sound exactly like we wanted than give it away to another studio and be disappointed," he said.

The fruit of their labors will be on sale for $5 at Saturday's show, which starts at 8pm. The show is already almost sold out, but if you're dying to get in, send an email to RockThePeople@hotmail.com. And if you can't make it to the show, head to mp3.com/WeThePeople to sample their sound.

--Kelly McVicker