Point One raises hard rock from the grave

So the ghosts of Jimi, Kurt and Layne spent a night prowling Seattle rock clubs. Their reactions:

Layne: "Yawn. If I wanted a night of quiet introspection, I would've stayed in my grave."

Kurt: "Emo? Whatever-o."

Jimi: " 'scuse me while I kiss Seattle good-bye."

Ironic, isn't it? Considering the recent history of Seattle music, it's somewhat surprising that hard-rock/metal is something of a ghetto child in the Northwest — now so dominated by milder, gentler forms of rock, indie and kid-brother emo.

"Indie rock puts butts in the seats," says hard rocker Lenny Hotrum, who has been around long enough to know business is business. "But it has made it harder for us to break in Seattle, for sure."

Hotrum is the lead singer of Point One, a hard-rock/metal band that is trying to bring Seattle back to its roots. Sounding occasionally like Alice in Chains, this Mötley Crüe/Metallica-influenced band just released its third CD, "Unlucky Stars." Point One celebrates the release of its new album with an all-ages show at Studio Seven tonight (8, $12).

After that, the band tries to win over new fans, going on tour with Sevendust, the big-selling (three gold albums) hard-rock band from Atlanta.

Hotrum came here from Alaska in the early '90s with one thing in mind: start a band. He soon after connected with drummer Chase Culp and bass player Darren Howard, starting Rosary Walls. A few years later, that became Six Degrees. And, finally, Point One, with guitarist Keith Wright joining the original three.

Point One hopes the Sevendust travels will be better than a recent tour, which started with the van breaking down, and only got worse, in Ann Arbor, Mich. According to a blog post by the band:

"Imagine finding a Motel 6, checking in after 9 hours of driving, and as you open the door to your room and walk in you are greeted with the stench of cigarette smoke, a empty bottle of Hennessey, a empty 40 oz. in a brown paper bag, a broken crack pipe on the floor and crack sitting on the end table.... Needless to say, what kind of crack addict leaves his [stuff] behind? Answer: One who probably was out getting more and coming back to that room. So we got a refund and got the [heck] out of that [stink] hole."

• Candlebox — remember them? — — play the Fenix Underground tonight (8, $22.50). This could be one of the last shows at the Fenix, which, after moving twice in the past few years, has filed for bankruptcy.

• Pretty Girls Make Graves announced a few months ago they were breaking up, with band members splitting off into side projects, most notably Derek Fudesco's the Cave Singers. The punk-pop PGMG, with Andrea Zollo yelping vocals, plays its last scheduled shows at Neumos on Saturday (5 p.m. and 9 p.m., $12).