Special to JamBrain by Gary S. Angelo

Since 2006, Youngstown’s Psychic Assassins have been intellectually challenging the minds of local club goers. For the band that began their career playing open mic shows at Barley’s,  their sound is evolving and experimenting into post-punk/new wave textures.

The Assassins are Mike Donazella on vocals and guitar, Dave Drogowski on guitar and vocals, Matt Craig on keyboards and bass, and Bob Young on drums. They got their name from a SEGA video game series which seemed to describe the telepathic, cerebral message of their music.

“The influences of the band are different for each of us,” Craig says, “and that is why our music melds the way it does.” He is drawn to the progressive rock sounds of TV On The Radio, while Drogowski is inspired by the mainstream alternative ethics of The Raconteurs and The White Stripes.  Donazella favors the late 70s dance punk guitar art of Gang of Four, while drummer Bob Young gravitates towards the post-rock sounds of The Mars Volta.

Donazella opines, “A band can’t choose it’s own sound, the sound chooses the band.” Craig feels that Youngstown has a rich art-rock scene with bands such as Third Class and Braille, and the Assassins feel right at home in that scene.

The band just released a four-track demo, which unleashes the influences of all four members. For example, on the track “Drowning,” Craig originally wrote the song in classical chords, but then it expands into Young’s post–rock influences, which the band characterize as “Youngstown graffiti.”

Drogowski points out that the band is incorporating more intuitive influences in their music. Donazella says, “All of our songs are about our lives. A lot of things I write reflect a mental state I am in.” Craig adds an academic perspective, “to create a film-noir sound,” he explains.

Their mission is to give listeners the “brain workout” of a group psychology effort. Craig says, “We always have a chemistry with the crowd at shows and we feel that through their feedback they are communicating with us,” psychically, you see.

The Psychic Assassins are playing Warren’s Boom Room, March 14.