The Liars Handshake

For my first entry, let's start with some of the nicest, coolest, sweetest people I've met in Arizona, the Liars Handshake.

The band is Jared Christy (vocals and harmonica), Billy Culbertson (vocals and guitar), Nolan Thompson (upright bass) and the fiddling duo Brittany Sanner and Megan McCluskey.

What was once a post-punk/hardcore band called Bullet Train to Moscow throughout much of the early 2000s, Jared, Billy and Nolan revamped into the Liars Handshake, an all-acoustic sing-along band.

The group stays true to their punk-loving roots by covering The Pogues' "Dirty Old Town" and Minor Threat's "Good Guys Don't Wear White," but have clashed the screeching genre with the laid-back style of folk music to ensure that everyone in the audience can have a hand-clapping hoot of a time.

They proved their potential for mainstream success when they opened for the popular L.A.-based Irish punk band Flogging Molly at the Mesa Ampitheatre last spring, but Liars Handshake is not about to pack up and move to "La La Land" in search of a major record contract. Fame and glory aside, these guys are dedicated to Phoenix with hopes that they can bring back some innocent fun to the city's punk rock scene.

Their next show will be at The Clubhouse in Tempe on Sept. 21, so get out of the house and support your local music venue. You may even spot me in the crowd, clapping along and messing up song lyrics.