Let's say you're a band thrust into the indie spotlight following the release of your impressive and critically-acclaimed debut album. How do you deal with the pressure of following up that type of success? Well, if you're New York City's Liars , you lose your entire rhythm section (founding members Ron Albertson and Pat Nature), add just one new member to replace them (percussionist Julian Gross), and discard all but the most basic dance-punk elements of your previous effort for electronic-induced noise. Now, with their latest album, They Were Wrong, So We Drowned , Liars face possibly their greatest challenge: Translating their new album in a live setting.

This is truly a daunting task. It took the band quite sometime to become a formidable live band. They honed their act after quite a few disappointing local shows opening the Black Cat's backstage for the Apes. By the time they were finished touring for their debut, as witnessed at Towson 's Recher Theater opening for Sonic Youth, they had finally developed a tight, cohesive sound. Nature's bass and Albertson's drumming were finally a perfect match for the confusion created by frontmen Aaron Hemphill and Angus Andrews. The question now existed: how would the transition sound this time, working with a more complex album and only three members onstage?

The answer, as it turned out, is ?fierce.?

Hitting the stage around midnight , Liars ripped through their 55 minute set with power, barely stopping for air. Sure, there were some expected changes. Many of the elements were now pre-recorded, a path they had been heading down more and more with each past show. Andrews' now takes on some simple (and boy, do I mean simple) bass and guitar duties. But most of the basic elements are still there: Hemphill's ?is it tuned or not? guitar blasts still ring through the clamor, and Gross's drumming clearly equals Alberton's, pounding through the chaos to make sense of the whole debacle. Taking up the rest of the available free space on stage, Andrews still sings and stalks the stage like a mad man.

While none of the songs deviated too much from their recorded versions, the songs sprang to new and deafening life mostly from Andrews' screams and Gross's hammered drumming. Take the first single, ?There's Always Room on the Broom.? Andrews marched along to the beat of Gross's one-two high hat beat, as a riotous staccato buzz rang out from into the audience. The clatter seemed to even get the best of the band at some points. During ? Hold Hands and It Will Happen Anyway,? Andrews could barely control himself, pacing back and forth across the stage like a man possessed by the very witches he sings about on the album.

When the band is whipping into frenzy, they are at the top of their game. Gross fits in nicely with the group; he's a perfect combination of control and insanity. Sporting a form-fitting American flag tank top with the words ?Burn Me!? written on his chest and a mini-skirt, he effortlessly pulverized his kit, provided the solid foundation that the others used to create a wall of sound. Hemphill, as before, proves to be the anchor in it all, manning almost all of the other instrumentation. Standing with his back to the crowd during a good bit of the set, he still let the music move him, twitching along to the beeps, buzzes and drones. But Andrews is definitely the main attraction. Not to be outdone by his own bandmate, Andrews stormed the stage wearing a three-sizes-too-small neon green sports jacket over a nurse's uniform with ?Weapons of Ass Destruction? scrawled on the back. Like Gibby Haynes's long lost son, he paces the stage with a maniacal look in his eyes, hair flying in his face at every turn and hands and feet often slamming on his vocal effects.

Sure, there are some downsides to the new incarnation of Liars. They've removed all of their previous songs from the set list. Personally, it would've been interesting to hear how they would cover almost any song from They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top . And falling back on entirely pre-recorded sections was a slight disappointment, as it would've been nice to see some clever interplay between the members to cover the gaps that would be left with only three members. Going by their previous track record, however, it seems like they are on their way to playing some awe-inspiring shows.