Though two of its members have much higher-profile pedigrees than many of the groups that the Demo2DeRo column addresses--Dan "Vapid" Schafer has played in Screeching Weasel and the Riverdales, as well as leading the Methadones, and Jeff Dean is in the Bomb--their new collaboration with bassist Rick Uncapher (Textbook) and drummer Jimmy Lucido on the debut album "Yeah, Whatever..." could easily be overlooked outside the punk underground, and that would be a shame.

Despite the cheeky, hinting-at-generic sounds moniker, Noise By Numbers draws inspiration from the fertile'80s indie-rock scene of Husker Du, the Replacements, Dinosaur Jr. and their ilk as well as classic Chicago punk sounds like Naked Raygun and the Effigies to inject a heaping dose of sing-along melody into every propulsive and hard-hitting groove, making for an instantly familiar yet somehow distinctive and fresh-sounding formula: Good tunes are timeless, and they're always welcome.

The band has two impressive gigs in the coming weeks, at the Beat Kitchen on Dec. 4 and opening for Rise Against at Metro on Dec. 18, but a sampling of its songs are streaming now at www.myspace.com/noisebynumbers.