I'm at the Storeroom, Seattle's best little punk rock dive bar, with a bunch of people in their 30s watching the Spits, a band with sad mohawks and mustaches (plus a robot on a synth) that beats out funny, Killed by Death-style punk rock. Slim Fluenza, the singer of the Vaccines, is jumping up and down, grinning. "I love shitty bands!" he blurts out. "I can't help it, but I do."

And so do I. Which brings us to the Vaccines. These Seattle bad boys have been making a loud impression lately. Punk as fuck, yes they are. Leather, tattoos, beer, etc. Nothing new there, maybe nothing new at all. And you know what? They don't give a rat's ass. All five members -- Slim, guitarist Marco Polio, guitarist Jason R. Germ, bassist Scotty Small Pox and drummer TB Long -- are in their 30s; some are married, some have kids and all have shitty jobs. The American dream fulfilled: go nowhere slowly, and leave the ambition for those younger and less battle scarred.

Well, that's not entirely true: In less than two years the Vaccines have managed to play more than 50 shows and release an EP. I still haven't heard the EP, but Marco says it sucks and that it's officially out of print. Fine. Soon the Vaccines will appear on a joint album with the Bulemics and Texas Terri and the Stiff Ones for Junk Records. They'll also be releasing a 7-inch on Absolute Records, with more recording this spring. But what's exciting the band most right now is playing for its friends at the tiny Storeroom, which means F-U-N.

Slim and Marco are both veterans of the Sacramento punk scene of the early/mid-'80s, where they hung around true punks like Tales of Terror and the U.S. Bombs' Duane Peters. In fact, Tales of Terror are a great reference point for the Vaccines. They share the same musical style and an appetite for chaos. And you might remember Slim's and Jason's late, trashy rockabilly combo, Los Hornets, who played around these parts a few years back, or maybe TB Long's other gig as the drummer for the Kent 3, where Jason now plays bass.

So yes, the Vaccines have some pretty deep roots, and the songs do seem to matter to them, but onstage, chaos takes over. Here's what you get at a typical Vaccines show: Slim grinning like a dumb-ass, pouring a beer over his head. Slim slamming the bottle onto the stage. Jason picking up the mic stand. Marco plugging his guitar back in. Slim spitting out some words about something or other, then spitting beer at the crowd. The crowd spitting beer back at Slim. A great cover of the Damned's "Born to Kill." Some very fine guitar playing from Jason. Guitars getting unplugged again. TB grinning behind the drums. Slim falling off Jason's amp. Scotty remaining cool in the middle of all the confusion. Trashy, remarkably poppy songs about god knows what. Slim dedicating songs to his baby. More beer spitting and spilling. The whole band managing to start and stop together every couple minutes. A typical punk band, only better. Old Timey punk? Old School? Old. Punk is old now, but so what. I don't care if you don't. The Vaccines don't.

As I said earlier, I haven't heard note one of the Vaccines recorded. I can only assume it'll be great if they manage to get what they do live on tape. Even through all the disorder, their songs stand up. And when they hit the road this spring, they might even get somewhere. As Marco says, "Our plan is to do absolutely nothing and conquer everything."