International Pop Overthrow Festival

Eight years into its life as a refuge for fans who like their music largely the way they heard it on '60s and '70s radio, the Los Angeles edition of International Pop Overthrow is more about the bands next-door than global reach. About three-quarters of the 170-plus acts in the annual festival, which starts its 17-day run Friday at clubs throughout the Southland, are local.

The International Pop Overthrow festival has a decidedly less global feel for its seventh edition, which kicks off Friday. Promoter David Bash has success to thank for that.

International Pop Overthrow is going home. As some 180 bands prepare to play the sixth annual Los Angeles festival over the next 17 days, promoter David Bash has announced plans to throw one of his pop parties in Liverpool, England, this fall.

Gigolo AUNTS guitarist Dave Gibbs' steely blues eyes glisten playfully when he is asked about his latest project. "It's a sea chantey," he says, pausing a beat for disbelief to kick in.

I, pop geek, am not self-conscious. I can Brian Wilson in the shower, Rick Nielsen across the living room, Mick Avory on the steering wheel, and if you catch me I will shrug and smile, only momentarily nonplused, before slipping back into three-chord reverie.

International Pop Overthrow is a sprawling but unobtrusive rock festival dedicated to obscure bands that would rather coax ears with catchy tunes and crafty harmonies in the classic Beatles tradition than bash them with the brutal noise of hard rock and punk.