Pop Music : Material Issue Has the Goods to Be Great

Material Issue wears its influences on its set list. The young power-pop trio from Chicago ended its exuberant performance Saturday at the Roxy with loving versions of three seminal songs from the annals of rock ‘n’ roll: the Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz,” the Who’s “The Kids Are Alright” and the Byrds’ “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.”

Material Issue draws on the work of these great groups as well as many other melody-heavy bands, but it assimilates bits of their styles into one of its own. Raw though it may yet be, the threesome has the ambition--its debut album is called “International Pop Overthrow”--and the goods to evolve into a band that will one day influence others.

The best of those goods is “Valerie Loves Me,” the group’s dynamic first single, performed at the Roxy by lead singer and guitarist Jim Ellison with impassioned Angst . Ellison is at once the biggest plus and minus of Material Issue’s act: His steady stream of silly faces became distracting after a while, but his almost palpable exhilaration at being on stage was contagious. And he has certainly mastered the art of writing rat-a-tat-tempoed pop gems.

The Wit Lincolns, a quartet from Richmond, Va., opened the show amiably with a set of sunny tunes typified by a buoyant, retooled version of Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her.” Both bands will be at Bogart’s in Long Beach on Tuesday.