By Samuel Rubenfeld

Bellmore natives Head Automatica attracted a varied crowd last Wednesday, drawing many to their performance at Hofstra U.S.A.

Local openers The Gateway played to an ambivalent crowd to open the show. Their sound was reminiscent of the power-pop of The Lashes, New Found Glory and the poppiest of pop-punk vets, Blink 182.

Unfortunately, their brand of power-pop-punk was quite generic and ultimately too boring to catch the crowd’s attention.

For a half hour, they pranced, danced and hopped around, much to the mocking delight of the few that happened to be paying attention.

A half hour later, Head Automatica sauntered out onto the stage. They began with a driving, resounding beat, before vocalist Daryl Palumbo ran out on stage, grabbed the mic and started to sing.

Palumbo had a jarring stage presence: running around the stage, he rallied the “troops” (the rest of the band) and worked hard to keep the crowd entertained.The set was largely uneven, split between songs off their new release Popaganda and their debut Decadence.

Most of the newer songs, the single “Graduation Day” notwithstanding, fell flat due to the crowd’s lack of familiarity with the music.

Even the crowd’s more comfortable grasp of the song didnt’t excuse the terrible nature of “Graduation Day” itself, which sounded as bad on stage as it does on record.

Songs off Decadence fared much better, however. “Brooklyn is Burning” created a dance club atmosphere and the fan’s choice set closer, “The Razor,” made for a grand finale.

GRADE: C+