Courtesy photo

THEY ARE: A Kid Named Thompson

THE MEMBERS: Marc Molina, 18 (guitar, backing vocals); and brothers Jonathan Harter, 20 (drums) and Joshua Harter, 18 (bass, lead vocals)

THE SOUND: Pop-punk in the vein of Fall Out Boy, Blink 182 and Jimmy Eat World. “It's mostly about girls,” Jonathan Harter said. “Just life, I guess. Mostly girls, though.”

THEIR WORDS: “I'm just striving to be as original as I can while maintaining a pop sensibility. I think that's important, that balance. Trying to find an original thing that people will like.” — Marc Molina

ALBUM: I Want To Wake Up (April 2007)

WHERE TO SEE THEM: July 25 at White Rabbit, 2410 N. St. Mary's St.; July 31 at Atomix, 1902 McCullough Ave. They're heading to the East Coast in August for their first tour.

THE WEB: myspace.com/akidnamedthompson

BACKGROUND: Jonathan and Joshua Harter grew up in a musical family — their father, Keith, is a guitarist who runs a recording studio, where the guys made their album. Being brothers in a band has its advantages and disadvantages, Joshua Harter said. “We're together all the time, so we work really well together. But when we fight, it gets pretty loud.”

THE 210 TAKE: A Kid Named Thompson is looking for mainstream success: They want to be on the cover of Rolling Stone, MTV's “TRL” and commercial radio. With popularity of pop-punk these days, the band's slick sound just might have a chance. High school kids from Alamo Heights, Reagan and Churchill regularly come out to listen to Molina's catchy guitar hooks, Jonathan Harter's lyrics and Joshua Harter's melodies. The band also was voted the winner of a battle of the bands sponsored by USAA. Molina heads to St. Edward's University in Austin in the fall, while the Harters will be at UTSA, but the band's not breaking up. Instead, they plan to start playing more Austin gigs. “Hopefully it's going to be for the best,” Molina said. “And if it doesn't work out, I'm totally prepared to come back home because this is something that's important to me.”

Jessica Belasco | 210SA contributor