On the Sacramento local music scene, The Skirts are one of the few bands that both shock and seduce their audiences by their mere presence on the stage and performance throughout the night.

Through some unknown origin, girl bands are expected to bomb when they perform live on stage. But if you?re thinking about seeing The Skirts on stage, better plan on killing that thought before it enters your mind.

“We get a lot of positive and negative attention when we perform. But for the most part, we shock a lot of people,” Gerri Ronta, guitarist for The Skirts, said.

The Skirts have only been around for a few years in Sacramento. They have already gone through two members in the band and a complete makeover of their sound. On their first CD, “Look Up!,” The Skirts had more of a punk rock sound, but with a more basic tone in the instrumental.

On their newest album, “Take Off,” The Skirts have received two new members, bassist Gitti Lindner, and guitarist Cory Tozer. The new guitarists add more edge to the instrumental portion of the music while lead vocalist Lynn Mayugba still sounds so sweet and innocent when she sings.

“Corey and Wendy write the songs, but Lynn shapes the music,” Lindner said in regards to their new sound.

Maybe it?s those sweet vocals that keep the fans coming back, or their loud rock guitars, or maybe just the efforts they put in that makes it a style all their own. And still, The Skirts are compared to other bands such as The Donnas and The Go-Gos.

“We?re more like The Go-Gos meet a train wreck,” Wendy Powell, drummer for The Skirts, said.

Incorporated in their sound, The Skirts can give an awesome live performance. On stage, they bring about an aura of schoolgirl giddiness that rubs off on the crowd and gets everyone pumped up for the show.

Aside from their incredible talent, one of the main reasons that The Skirts come off sounding so good is the brutal honesty they get from their producer, Skid Jones, when practicing and recording. At rehearsal, if Jones thinks that something could be improved upon, he doesn?t hold back his first impression or sugarcoat it with pleasantry. This honesty helps shape the sound that The Skirts are known for today.

“Change that,” Jones said at a recent band rehearsal about Tozer?s guitar riff introduction. “That sounds wussey.”

In the past, The Skirts have traveled all over the West Coast and played with big name bands such as Magnolia Thunderfinger and Pat Benetar. But for their future plans they hope to travel across the globe.

“World domination!” Powell said during an interview, with a wide grin across her face.But for the more recent future, The Skirts are just playing local shows promoting their new CD. Some upcoming shows where you can catch The Skirts will be at the end of May and beginning of June. On Saturday, The Skirts will be playing at Pug?z music shop near Folsom and Alhambra. For the 21-and- up, The Skirts will be playing at Old Ironsides on Friday, May 25. Starting in June, The Skirts will be hitting up most of the summer festivals. The first one to kick off is on Friday, June 1, and is an all-ages show called Summer Sammies. The next day, The Skirts will be playing at Sacramento?s Heritage Festival, another all- ages show.

For more information on these shows or The Skirts, check out their Web site at www.theskirts.com.They?ve been working really hard on keeping it up-to-date and making it fun for the user to see, so check it out.