By JESS PEREGOY

jep024@latech.edu

 

While The Terms claim their band has been playing since the Jurassic Age, the group — in its second year — is about to drop its first album, “Small Town Computer Crash.” But first, The Terms had a show to play last Thursday at Rabb’s Steaks and Spirits, located at 2647 South Service Road.

Hailing from Baton Rouge, Ben Labat, singer and guitarist, Clyde Hargrove, electric guitarist, Brandon Young, bass guitar, Scott Lasseigne, drummer, and Blake Oliver, percussionist, said the sound of their band could be described as “hip-hop 80s techno,” but later decided southern indie rock is a better choice.

All the band members, with the exception of those who have graduated, are students at Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge, and the band got its start playing to college crowds and bars in Baton Rouge.

“College towns are the most receptive,” Labat said. “We like to trap them at the bar; [people] who have probably never heard us will hear us play while they’re getting drunk, and then they love us — actually, that only happened once.”

While the band is not studying, playing in their side project, Hotplay, or trying to open a Terms restaurant, where salsa and chips are the main course, band members said the group practices all the time, Hargrove joked.

“We want our shows to be like a time bomb and polished,” Labat said. “When we play we’re so worried about playing everything right, but the material we’re playing now has finally settled in.”

The band’s set at Rabb’s was just that: polished. The guys, clad in old rock T-shirts, jeans and boots, played their fusion of twangy, jazzy rock songs and covers to a crowd of drunken dancers. Their hour-and-a-half set alternated between classic cover songs like “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” new songs and songs off of their forthcoming album.

The band will release their album on Maple Jam Records, an independent label, April 25. The record will be sold in several large stores, such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

“Our label cares about our music and doesn’t tell us what to write,” Labat said. “It’s more personal.”

Hargrove said being on an independent label could be compared to baseball.

“It’s like the minor leagues of music really,” Hargrove said. “The hot dogs are better at minor league games anyway.”