The Karaoke Underground

The Karaoke Underground is back at Stoney's Good Time Ranch on Friday, September 11, from 8 PM to 1 AM. It's a night that's been running in Austin since 2004, and it's built around a pretty specific idea: a room where punk and indie rock fans can get up and belt out their favorite records.

The format is straightforward. There's a stage, video karaoke with onscreen lyrics, and a catalog of punk and indie classics that keeps growing. It's not your average karaoke night—the song list is curated for the punk and indie crowd, and it's the kind of thing that works better when you're singing along with a room full of people who know the songs as well as you do.

To give you a sense of the range, the catalog draws on Bikini Kill, Black Flag, Modest Mouse, the Mountain Goats, Big Thief, Pixies, Dead Kennedys, Sleater-Kinney, Pavement, Joy Division, Fugazi, Guided By Voices, Neutral Milk Hotel, Metric, Wilco, Wire, Belle & Sebastian, and The Big Boys. That covers a lot of ground—from the raw energy of Black Flag and Dead Kennedys to the more melodic, sprawling stuff of Wilco and Neutral Milk Hotel, with plenty of the jagged, art-punk edge of Fugazi and Joy Division in between. If you've spent any time with those records, you'll find plenty of familiar ground to work with.

It's a free night, and it runs from 8 PM until 1 AM, so there's plenty of time to get through a few songs. Just keep in mind that it's strictly 21+, so bring your ID. Stoney's Good Time Ranch is at 3526 East 7th St.