By By Bonnie McKasty

If you ask Nick Dewitt, drummer for the punk band Paul Ryder and the Riots, what makes the band different from other new bands in the punk scene, he’ll tell you the difference is as simple as choosing between a lavish sit-down dinner or a fast-food restaurant.

In an interview outside of CBGB’s in New York City last Thursday, 20-year-old Dewitt compared modern-day punk to a Chicken McNugget. “It has no substance,” he said, “We want to give you a four course meal.”

In this instance, the four-course meal refers to the band’s sound-hard drumbeats, driven (and loudly played) guitar riffs and socially conscious lyrics, which revive the original punk style heard between 1976-1978.

With experienced musicians Nick DeWitt on drums, Mike Gevaza on guitar, brother Matt Gevaza on bass and front-man Paul Ryder singing lead vocals, Paul Ryder and the Riots looks to bring the current state of music back to “the only time when punk rock was real,” Mike said.

The group, which has been together for only a month and a half, played their debut at CBGB’s, a legendary club known for performances by classic punk artists like Patti Smith, Blondie and The Ramones. “We’re trying to pick up where they left off,” Mike said.

Even though it was their first official show together, each member is no stranger to performing. Mike, a student at the University, and his younger brother Matt, 18, both played for five years in the punk group The Semi Automatix. They met Ryder, the band’s youngest member at 17, when their bands played a show together. “I know that when I was into a lot of bands like NOFX and more modern bands, we saw Paul play a show with our old band and he must have been like 12,” Mike said.

This year, they ran into Ryder again, who recognized them as members of The Semi-Automatix. The three decided to start their own band. DeWitt, also a student at the University, was friends with Mike for about a year and joined the group soon after.

While the band considered names like The Dead Hookers and The Mongoloid Men, they decided on Paul Ryder and the Riots (at least temporarily) so they could play the show.

The group describes their sound as having a lot of personality and says it is heavily influenced by groups like Dead Boys, The Heartbreakers, The Stooges and other classic punkers who went against the rock-and-roll grain to make edgy, rebellious music with a catchy beat.

“They didn’t care what anyone thought,” Mike explained, “There’s a lot of history behind what we are doing.”

For this reason, taking the stage Thursday at the historic punk venue was a big deal to the band, especially because they played with rock-and-rollers Priority 7 and The K’s.Even though the band does not consider their music highly political, (in fact, Ryder confesses that he “wouldn’t mind having Bush as [his] next-door neighbor”) the band uses their songs to get out frustration about everyday social issues.

With catchy numbers like “Hey Mr. Policeman,” which Ryder said was written about a detective who “does anything to lock up kids who are smoking pot,” and “Juvenile Delinquency,” the band reverts back to the rebellious, constructive roots of punk music. “[We are] telling off society in the best way,” Mike said.

While they mostly feature their own material, they also perform a few cover songs, like “Pirate Love,” originally performed by Johnny Thunder and the Heartbreakers and “Gun Called Justice,” a Lords of the New Church cover. Paul Ryder and the Riots played a loud, high-energy show Thursday, despite the fact that Ryder dislocated his knee before getting on stage. Even with this injury (on top of another he incurred during a practice), the band danced around stage and Ryder stopped to put on sunglasses. Afterwards, the band members came into the crowd to talk to the audience, making a big impression on concert-goers like Susan Rowe of Boston, Mass., who said afterwards, “They’re such cool kids.”

Matt claims the only weakness the band has is they “can’t go any louder,” since their amplifiers already go up to 11. “We have great hair,” Ryder said. “We have no real weaknesses.”The four hope to get into the studio soon and begin recording official demo tracks and possibly a full album in the near future. “As soon as we get a few songs we’re just going forward and not looking back,” Matt said. For now, information about the band and samples of their music can be found on their Myspace Web site, http://www.myspace.com/paulryder.

Paul Ryder an The Riots played their first show at the club. (Chris Lai/The Chronicle)