You might expect a band named While this attitude doesn't impress everybody -- the band recalls driving an entire crowd out of MATC's cafeteria and being called "nimble-witted New Wave pop" by Rolling Stone -- it just seems to give them more material. Over the past few years, the band members have been busy with jobs, side projects and procreation -- drummer Randy Ballwahn was the host of the "Freak Scene" show on WORT, and guitarist-singer-keyboardist Annelies Howell has performed with GAS in numerous stages of pregnancy -- but they recently convened at Smart Studios to record some new tracks for a 7-inch, 79 AD, which was debuted at The Frequency earlier this month. "Pompeii," one of the tracks on the new release, was inspired by the band's penchant for reading history books. "Civilization preserved for centuries in volcanic rock? Sounded like a natural indie-rock topic to us," says Ballwahn. The song brings together many of the elements that have won the band fans -- whom they affectionately refer to as GASbags -- over the years: A catchy surf-rock hook, echoed by a distorted, Pixies-style drum-and-guitar riff, plus a few barbs aimed at burned-out punks and wishy-washy hippies. The message? Rock 'n' roll has been locked in the basement -- by corporate takeover of indie rock and the aforementioned groups' lack of motivation, perhaps -- and needs to be rescued, damsel-in-distress style, before it becomes a relic. If you've got the gusto, GAS will provide the soundtrack. An MP3 of "Pompeii" is available in the related downloads at right. More songs by the group can be listened to on its MySpace page. MadTracks highlights and provides MP3s of songs performed by local musicians. All tracks here are provided with permission of the artist. If you are a musician based in the Madison metro area and are interested in sharing your work as a MadTrack, please send a message.