Tired of the same old rock band experience? Do you want something new and different?

Well, Sacramento State has three award-winning bands for you. San Diego’s Get Back Loretta and San Francisco’s Music for Animals and The Frail are set to perform at 7:30 p.m. today in the University Union Ballroom.

The free indie rock/ indie electro concert will showcase the award-winning Get Back Loretta, who once opened for Jack’s Mannequin in 2006.

Formed in 2004, Get Back Loretta began when Steven Bradford and Kevin Martin fused two different musical genres together to create their own sound.

“I was more Radiohead-style while Kevin, our pianist, was more poppy,” Bradford said.

“After we got together we decided to draw from the Beatles and mix the two sounds together.”

Now the band has three more members, including drummer Isaac Cass and guitarists Santino Romeri and Josh Cass. The band has gone on to win “Best New Artist” in 2005 at the San Diego Music Awards for its first EP, which was recorded in a record time of one week.

Get Back Loretta’s full-length debut album, “Over The Wall,” also won awards at the San Diego Music Awards for “Best Pop Album” and “Best Pop” in 2007.

Although the band’s main focus is the music, Get Back Loretta also wants to spread the word about world peace.

“Our piano player, Kevin, is a huge activist,” Bradford said. “We think it is really important to spread the word.”

With Save Darfur, Doctors Without Borders and Human Rights Watch being a few of the programs Get Back Loretta supports, the band members believe they too can make a difference by posting these programs on the band’s MySpace page.

“We are also actively involved in the One campaign and hope that we can make a difference,” Bradford said.

Music for Animals also uses the same concept of fusing two different genres together to get that indie rock/electronica sound.

The band was formed after vocalist Jayson Martinovich and bassist Eli Meyskens split with their old band in search of a different sound.

After quickly finding guitarist Nick Bray and drummer Ryan Malley on Craigslist, Music for Animals quickly made a name for itself by winning a Battle of the Bands in San Francisco and touring for OK Go.

“Each member was recently a part of another band and we were all looking for a new sound that we all found and are happy with in this band,” Martinovich said.

Music for Animals’ inspiration for playing: girls. Actually, Music for Animals draws most of its inspiration from the fact that the members love music.

“We all share common musical influences like David Bowie, David Byrne, Arcade Fire, Weezer, ’80s rock and tons more,” said Martinovich. “Did I mention we love music?”

In 2007, Music for Animals’ self-titled release received critical acclaim and reached the top 200 on College Music Journal. The band has also been featured on IndieFeed.com and in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bay Area Bandwidth. The Frail fuses together electronica and indie to create a unique sound all its own.

Kevin Durr and Daniel “Danny” Lannon compose the two person band. The band was formed after Durr moved from Seattle, Wash. and placed an ad on Craigslist for a vocalist. Lannon replied and the rest was history.

Within a month they where in the studio recording and a year later, The Frail was signed to Tricycle Records.

“It happened really quickly,” Durr said.

Plug In Magazine said The Frail is “multifaceted while still remaining balanced with touches of nasally falsetto, monotone melodies and edgy beats.”

“Our sound is fusion-esque,” Durr said. “It’s really basic and we add a modern touch with technology.”

Get Back Loretta, Music for Animals and The Frail will be performing where admission is free for students and the general public. For more information visit http://www.csus.edu/union/unique.

Yasmine Bikul can be reached at [email protected].