At a gig consisting of local bands, I really don’t think many of us expect much. You wonder why you should spend your hard earned money to see someone who you may run into at the grocery store, or who sold you strings at Guitar Center. It is really hard to get excited about local music, especially in St. Louis, where the chances of seeing something great are slim.

However, sometimes we can be pleasantly surprised. I saw five local bands this weekend between Friday’s Babylabel Records showcase at the Way-Out Club, and the final farewell of a Columbia band The Cripplers at the Hi-Point on Saturday. While two of the bands were crap, I was intrigued by The Cripplers and Tomorrow’s Caveman and was blown away by Sexicolor.

Although rumors would suggest otherwise, Jeff King and his band, The Cripplers took the stage at the Hi-Point for their farewell show and blasted into “Rock and Roll Shake,” their best song. Thus began 90 minutes of sloppy, sleazy rock music for the sloppy, sleazy crowd. Muscling through most of their back catalog was actually a good idea, even though King admitted that The Cripplers have been playing the same songs for the last four years. Unfortunately, they haven’t released the album they have completed, and the only evidence of their existence is two songs on the Landlocked and Loaded compilation.

The Cripplers spent all night thanking everyone for their support, both verbally and musically through some boss covers. Shane McGowan and the Popes’ played “Church of the Holy Spook” early in the set, while “Respectable” by the Stones and “Roadrunner” by Jonathan Richman appear during the finale. Although we really didn’t care if they played that last encore of “Get Away,” we saw a lot of potential. Let’s hope this actually wasn’t their swan song.

I’m told a man named Ray James used to be in The Cripplers but now fronts this new band called Tomorrow’s Caveman. They opened the Babylabel showcase at The Way-Out Club and were surprisingly rocking, despite their appearance. Picture a Calvin Johnson-esque vest-wearing lead singer, a pudgy kid who has most likely attended NASA space camp many times, a shirt-less drummer, WWF wrestler the Rock and Cousin It playing `60s-influenced psychedelic rock. That basically sums up Tomorrow’s Caveman, the strangest-looking good band I’ve ever seen. Tomorrow’s Caveman is definitely a band to watch, but, um, keep your distance from the stage.

Closing the Babylabel showcase was the ace rock band Sexicolor, whose new LP, The Look and Feel of Sexicolor is a quick and dirty 26 minutes of mega rock and roll.

The focal point of the band is the lead vocal trade-off between guitarists Spitzie West and James Hutto who almost playfully try to outdo one another, much like Conrad Keely and Jason Reece from And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. Sexicolor will undoubtedly draw comparisons to great bands like Sonic Youth, for their Thurston-Kim lineup, and the Donnas because they play their three chord rockers as if their life depended on it.

Hopefully, people won’t hold them to that because they are so much more. When they play songs like “What You Said” and “Butch in Springtime” the band evokes the spirit of the Hellacopters, T-Rex, the Breeders and Men’s Club. “Wear My Pants” rivals the Donnas’ fittingly-titled “Hot Pants” as the best song I’ve heard all year.

I’ve always said that a great show must have a cover. Well, Sexicolor closed the show with Blue Oyster Cult’s “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” I wished they would have played “Godzilla,” since I love songs about lizards.