I keep missing punk shows, so made a point of catching Calgary pop punk trio The Galacticas, Saturday, June 9. I missed local punk band Sessions, who apparently played a loud set for a good sized crowd, most of whom departed by the time the Galacticas took the stage.

 The Calgary trio were a whole lot of pop culture nerd inspired fun.

They are obviously children of the ’90s so drew a lot of inspiration from the likes of Green Day and Blink 182.

 They began with an spirited punk cover of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” and played several songs from their new CD  “Diagnostics” including the title track and a song inspired by Star Wars, Spider Man and Carrie Fisher— “The Alderaan Song.”

 They grinned as they played a pretty spot on version of Wheatus’s 2000 chestnut ’Teenage Dirtbag.’
 To wind up the set, their frontman snickered as he said nobody will like this last cover unless you’re a girl,” before crashing into an impressive cover of Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi.”