Ask Gauge bassist J Hanson to come up with some other bands they sound like and you’ll be lucky to get an answer. Ask anyone from the Metro Omaha, Neb. area who Gauge sound like and you’ll get plenty of answers.

Gauge has drawn comparisons to the likes of The Sundays, Letters To Cleo and Belly, which is “not bad company at all” according to Hanson.

So maybe Belly has had three Top 40 hits and The Sundays have acquired legendary status as part of the female post-pop scene, but they probably don’t have a singer who’s been writing songs since she was eight.

“She has a phenomenal notebook of lyrics,” Hanson said about Gauge singer Laura Long. “What usually happens is that John [Stevens, guitarist] and I will record something we’ve come up with on our 4-track.

“She usually pops the tape in her car and drives around until she comes up with a basic melody. Then she’ll cruise through her lyrics ’till she finds some that fit,” Hanson said.

Gauge has also been doing some spontaneous “jamming in the basement” writing as well. “I never thought it would work that way,” Hanson said. “But it’s nice to have another option for song writing.”

Hanson, a two year ISU student in the late 80s, has been playing bass for 10 years. He learned to play the guitar while in the Ames band The Tykes.

“I picked up guitar so I could write songs,” he said. “I like playing the guitar better because there’s more toys, but I’m not feeling bad about playing bass at all.”

Hanson’s bass talents led him to Gauge two years ago when Omaha’s Green Lantern broke up. Stevens and his brother Jerry formed Green Lantern with a friend of theirs who worked with the record retail chain Homers.

Long, an employee at one of the stores, found a place in the band through her job, creating a quartet that would play together for a little longer than a year. When Hanson stepped in at bass, they changed their name to Gauge.

“Our biggest goal is going to be to keep writing music,” Hanson said. “We want music to be the main focus. We want to do our own thing and do it for a living.”

Their first step came more than a year ago, when they began production on their debut disc, Nothing Lost. Recorded at Big Fish and Warehouse studios in Omaha, the band chose Jim Homan to co-produce the album.

“We felt a good repour with him,” Hanson said. “The biggest compliment we’ve had on the CD is that it doesn’t sound like a local band’s CD. It looks good next to major labels.”

In describing Gauge’s live show, Hanson used the word energetic. “We’re not all over the place, like Goldfinger or Red Hot Chili Peppers, we just love getting up and playing in front of people.”

“We all hang pretty tight,” he said. “Music is a passion for all four of us so there are always some artistic differences. But we’re all committed to keeping things going.”

Gauge has appeared on three compilation discs including 93 K-Rock’s Born In A Barn, Midwest Diamonds In The Rough and the Iowa Compilation VI. Gauge is playing at People’s Bar and Grill tonight as part of CD release party for the Iowa Compilation VI.

The Nadas, the Meerkats and Jason Reed are also on the bill. Showtime is set for 9 p.m. Cover for the 21 and over show is $3.