White Denim is three guys from Austin, Texas with a grip on rock and roll music that's downright scary.

On Monday night they took the stage at the Horseshoe Tavern and in a highly impressive fashion, turned a sparsely populated room into a sweaty, soulful and psychedelic dance party with absolutely no frills or gimmicks.

The band is currently touring behind its third full-length release, Fits, which builds on critically-acclaimed previous albums Workout Holiday and Exposion and expands a sound built on an almost Hendrix Experience-like rhythm section and James Petralli's soulful vocals that evoke range and maturity reminiscent of the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach.

And yet White Denim's music is as unpredictable as it is difficult to categorize. And live, oh man.

The band surprised the Horseshoe crowd - which grew minute by minute - by playing well over an hour with almost no breaks, fusing its songs into 20-plus-minute medleys that literally left people begging for more.

Clearly not expecting such a reception (the band had already played an extra medley at a front-row fan's behest) they bounced back on stage after five minutes of encouragement and thundered through one more, almost as if at a loss for music, having exhausted every piece of material.

For true rock and roll fans concerned more with substance than image, this is definitely not a band to sleep on.

Those who caught them Monday night will certainly attest to that.