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The Gas Food Lodging Festival, designed to introduce artists passing through on the way to Austin’s SXSW to Baton Rouge’s live music scene, returns for a second triumphant year with over 30 bands in the I-never-thought-they’d-play-here category. Aaron Scruggs of the Spanish Moon holds hope for what it will do for us in the long run: “That’s what keeps me going. My goal is to have it where every week is like GFL fest. I think this city is ready.”

Here is a sampling of the great stuff about to hit your hungry ears.

Thunderbirds are Now!

Thunderbirds are Now! members Ryan Allen, Scott Allen, Matt Rickle and Howard Chang

“It was the worst decision of our lives,” responds guitarist/vocalist Ryan Allen of indie dance rock Thunderbirds are Now! when asked the reason they chose to name the band after the ultra-mod kids sci-fi series from the ’60s. I say you could do a lot worse. (You could be Hoobastank.) The exclamation point in the name jacks right into the soulful groove, intricate song structure and high-octane pop on their latest Justamustache. In their words, they are “better than Bon Jovi but not as good as Guns N’ Roses.” But one listen to tambourine and organ-filled power-tracks such as “From Skulls” might just get the hipsters off the wall quicker than either ’80s museum piece and set them shimmying to the floor of the Spanish Moon on March 18, when our heroes land to save the day.

Thunderbirds Are Now! performs at the Spanish Moon on March 18, with Rahim

My space URL: Thunderbirds Are Now

Essential tracks: From Skulls, Eat This City

Recommended if you like: Les Savy Fav, The Blood Brothers, The Delta 72, your best dance moves and opportunities to flaunt them.

Centro-matic for the people

What I can tell you about Centro-matic’s upcoming Fort Recovery is: Typically, it has a familiar quality that borrows from both Neil Young and Uncle Tupelo. I can also tell you: Atypically, it keeps planting these itchy seeds in my brain that whisper in two-part harmony, “I’m more important than the average rock record.”

Centro-Matic brings its speaker-shredding volume mixed with hushed romanticism to Gas Food Lodging.

Apart from their well-trod influences, Centro-matic’s latest is tied to the here-and-now by sheer will. The band gets tied to Chelsea’s Café on March 23 and promises to tie one on that night as it is frontman Will Johnson’s birthday. So here you go, Baton Rouge. This your chance to sing “Happy Birthday” to one of the most prolific and talented American songwriters today. Make it a good one.

As a live band Centro-matic has been known for its speaker-shredding volume, but the middle stretch of songs on Fort Recovery form a sweet spot of hushed romanticism and undeniable charm. A feat Johnson and company will duplicate on their upcoming tour.

“If we just had really loud guitars across the whole album, I think we’d be selling ourselves short,” Johnson says. “Dragging out the fiddles and pianos gave it a nice feel.”

The songwriter came across the album title on tour last year when he noticed a road sign for Ft. Recovery, Ohio. Johnson took the town’s name as an image of his band at the time. Good thing he’s used to driving through Ft. Worth. Lackadaisical, trip up beats and live wire guitars color the cohesive volley of basement tape rock songs that emerged in the subsequent recording sessions. The album wears white wash fuzz and electric slide dollops like a vintage corduroy coat. It’s as if years and years of collective cool were translated into two guitars, bass and drums and penned by the palpable diehard emotions in Johnson’s next-door voice, a mirror image of the vulnerable and unwavering sound of America in 2006.

Centro-Matic performs live at Chelsea’s Café on March 23 with Great Lake Swimmers and Elsah.

Band website: Centro-Matic.com

Essential tracks: In Such Crooked Time, Triggers and Trash Heaps

Recommended if you like: Neil Young, Red House Painters, the morning after as much as the night before.

Celebration

Baltimore trio Celebration is, from left, Sean Antanaitis, Katrina Ford and David Bergander

Baltimore band Celebration is on a mission to shake loose their audience’s reserve. “I want the line between the people on stage and the people watching to be blurred,” says singer Katrina Ford, whose ecstatic whoops and hollers share the spotlight with Sean Antanaitis on guitar, keyboards and bass pedals, often all at once.

While the group’s self-titled album is a wild bacchanalia on its own, the real party happens at its legendary ecstatic live shows. Ford explains, “I like to get to the point which flamenco artists call duende, which is when you completely lose your sense of self, and you’re completely absorbed with the spirit—the demon—of music.” Prepare to surrender yourself at the Red Star on the March 14.

Celebration performs live at the Red Star on March 14 with the Rogers Sisters

My Space url: Celebration

Essential tracks: War, Diamonds

Recommended if you like: Pixies, James Brown, snake-handlers and faith-healers.