Published 2008-05-09T00:00:00Z”/>

Everett Meyers

<strong>What:</strong> The Matches, The Shimmies and Self Against City<strong>Where:</strong> Free Speech Area<strong>When:</strong> 6 p.m. Friday

Most students would hate to be stuck on campus on a sunny Friday afternoon, but this week before the sun goes down, the microphones will go up.

Staged in the Free Speech Area, The Matches, an Oakland-based band, will be performing its punk rock riffs for a free show benefiting the Butte Humane Society.

The band, which signed to Epitaph Records about five years ago, started as a high school garage band, said drummer Matt Whalen.

These days, The Matches has been a regular on the Vans Warped Tour and has even reached international stardom touring in Europe.

“We set out to do this for real, so doing things like the Warped Tour is what we’ve been aiming to do,” Whalen said.

But even when the band isn’t on tour, members continue to focus on music and are constantly working toward the next album, he said. In the past, a lot of big names in the music industry have helped The Matches produce albums including Mark Hoppus of Blink 182, Nick Hexum of 311 and John Feldmann of Goldfinger.

Andrew Tarver, office manager of Wild Oak Records, invited The Matches to perform at Chico State because he wanted to bring a well-known act, he said.

“The Matches are a notable artist, and having them perform a free show is a golden opportunity,” he said.

But The Matches won’t be the only act rocking the mic. Opening for the show are The Shimmies and Sacramento-based rockers Self Against City.

Sacramento-based Self Against City was formed by vocalist Jonathan Temkin and guitarist Jack Matranga after they met through a radio advertisement. Ironically, the name for the band also was inspired by the radio.

“‘Self Against City’ came from a David Bowie song, ‘Suffragette City,” bassist Blake Abbey said.

“The DJ actually announced the song wrong as ‘Self Against City,’ and John thought it would be a good name for the band.”

The group, which performed an Earth Day show at the University of Southern California, is coming to Chico because the members wanted to play new material for fans close to home, Abbey said.

Each member of the five-piece group has a distinct role in the band, but they all take turns singing on the tracks, Abbey said. Self Against City is trying to be a more vocally-based group, layering multiple voices on each track.

“When a band finds their own sound, that is powerful,” he said. “The music is the power, it is just in the wrong hands right now.”

As the band’s success leads to bigger things, members hope to get to the point of financial stability so they can do nothing but benefit shows, Abbey said.

This selfless attitude is what Tarver was looking for when recruiting bands for the show, he said.

“The basic idea of this show was to put on an event that a lot of people could come out to and enjoy a really good show but also support a cause,” Tarver said.

The humane society was a good organization to support because it doesn’t euthanize its animals, he said. More importantly, Tarver wanted an organization that supports the whole community.

To encourage students to adopt pets, The Humane Society will be bringing a group of animals to the show to hang out with the crowd.

“If you come out early, you can meet some furry friends,” Tarver said.

Everett Meyers can be reached at <a href= “mailto:[email protected]”>[email protected]</a>