Lift My Fears @ Blue Fin

In its infancy, Lift My Fears’ throbbing anthem “Fatality” was an ode to the bloodbath which is the cornerstone of the video game Mortal Combat.

“[‘Fatality’] was meant to be cheesy and fun,” lead singer/guitarist Frank Lucido explains. Then, the song’s theme morphed into something more important. LMF drummer Matt Hannas was inspired by current events to adapt the track into a protest song about police brutality and how often it appears African American citizens are the targets of it.

“To serve, to protect/ not to harass and collect,” the song’s bridge demands.

It’s a classic punk anti-establishment call for rejection of injustice. That’s where the genre-bending band’s hardcore punk influence is at play. The song finds grunge nostalgia in the breakdown of the chorus: “Change won’t come/ we will fight till we’ve won.”

“We don’t want to be pigeonholed,” Hannas says when asked to assign a genre to LMF. “We leave it up to the listener.”

With one EP released last year, Lucido sees longevity in LMF and owes his belief to having a mature outlook of the music industry.

“We anticipate some rejection because the [music] business is full of ‘No,’” he says. “But all we need is one ‘Yes’ to make this worthwhile, no matter who it comes from.”

LMF has a backlog of material to record a fresh EP in spring and are incorporating that new material into their live shows. The band’s aspirations don’t end with recording that EP.

“We hope to have audiences go crazy, slam dance, and mosh,” says Lucido. “As long as they’re not killing each other, I’m for it.”

Click Hole and Outlined, female fronted hard rock bands from Sacramento and Folsom, respectively, open.

LIFT MY FEARS 8pm-1:30am Sat., Feb 13. $5. Blue Fin Billiards and Café, 685 Cannery Row, Monterey. 717-4280; www.BlueFinBilliards.com