On Leonard Street in Grand Rapids, in the long, smoky rock-n-roll music den that is Juke's Bar, a crowd of punk rockers gathered. I sat with a beer and a handheld recorder. It was a Sunday at 7:30 p.m. A young drunk in a Baja tried to guilt me into giving him a cigarette. He said he didn't understand satire. I waited for Tony Cozzaglio, guitarist of The Chernobyl Babies to show up.

The Chernobyl Babies, a Grand Rapids four-piece pogo-punk band, exemplify the genre with their hard drinking, gang vocals, speedy punk rock and old school fashion sense (complete with a Mohawk hairdo and t-shirts of other punk bands).

When he arrived, I asked Cozzaglio about his band's flavor of punk rock.

"It's pogo-punk, or like, street-punk," he said. "The biggest band of this style would probably be The Casualties. It's really fast and aggressive, but still really chant-y and sing-along."

The pogo trademark "gang vocals" — groups of punks (preferably drunk) yelling along to certain parts of the songs — make the performances gloriously crowd participatory, and pushes the energy of the 30-odd-year-old genre through the decades.

Tonight's show is a return from a two-night stint in Wisconsin.

"Milwaukee is like a second home for the Chernobyl Babies," Cozzaglio said. "We go there once a month. They really enjoy it — they have a good scene for that particular kind of punk rock."

For the band, it's all about making new friends, playing new cities, and having fun. Amidst all the partying and the gigging, the band has managed to put together a 13-song disc.

"We're in the middle of recording right now," Cozzaglio said. "We started out, our friend (Matt Meppelink of MLM Studios) brought his recording equipment over and we recorded individually — drums first, then we added guitar and bass. We've been waiting because the band that we have coming tonight to play (The Bad Engrish, from Denver), tomorrow is going to record vocals for us."

The band doesn't know the release date, but they do know there will be a supporting tour and are ready for it to happen.

"It'll be called Pogoed at the Pub," Cozzaglio said. "If you want to listen to a record to drink to and have fun with your friends, this will be an album to do it to."

Be on the lookout for the new disc soon at myspace.com/thechernobylbabies.