Kevin Bronson on October 15th, 2013

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Classic rock’s re-infiltration of the (demographically young) mainstream has been a pretty painful thing to witness, many of the purveyors relying on irony or schtick, or simply aping old videos, in the name of rock ’n’ roll. All in good fun, we suppose; far be it from us to insist there’s more gas in that tank. Australian quintet the Preatures have designs on taking this thing seriously, though – their tightly wound, blues-based rock carries barely a whiff of homage, unless you count the Pretenders T-shirt worn by singer-keyboardist Isabella Manfredi when the band made its U.S. debut at the Satellite on Monday night. (Considering Manfredi’s bangs, it did inspire a double-take.) Trading off vocals with guitarist Gideon Benson, Manfredi wailed a little bit like Sophie B. Hawkins fronting Creedence, or somebody else deep in the recesses of our 1970s memories. Those two, along with guitarist Jack Moffitt, bassist Tom Champion and drummer Luke Davison, didn’t miss a lick. The Preatures’ debut EP “Is This How You Feel?” is not only perfect for your uncle who still has Fleetwood Mac and the Pretenders in heavy rotation, but it makes the Preatures perfect tour buddies for Haim. They finished their set Monday with a cover of Aussie punk greats the Saints’ “(I’m) Stranded,” which stuck out like plaid bell-bottoms but still sounded great. The Preatures are signed to EMI-affiliated Harvest Records (whose people were out in full force Monday), home to White Lies, Banks, the Olms and Together Pangea. See you in 2014.

||| Stream: “Is This How You Feel?” and “Pale Rider”