Although im seeing both sides of this arguement. both sides are valid....
Sadly.
most of this style of music the OP's band is played live. My brothers band is alot like this.
their lyrics are meaningless on the whole. their songs have no hooks. they are the farthest thing from catchy.
The people that are their fans go to see the 'live show' to see the music played live, to see the entertainers Their stances, the clothes, the breakdowns, the flailing guitars the posturing, the flamboyant dancing, the other cookie cutter scenesters with their windmills kicks, etc etc etc.
Basically it's a spectacle. More then it is an auditory response.
I've been to numerous shows of theirs and thats basically what it is. A bunch of scene kids smelling each others asses to see who has the more beat up chuck taylors and half inch band pins on the straps of their over the shoulder man purses.
Which is cool. Its social interaction. Its gets them out of the house and take in some culture. However shallow and elitest that culture may be.
they do well for themselves. and have been for the last 5 years. been nominated for a few awards done numerous profitable tours for an indy band from butt fuck no where.
How ever.
their cd's blow a bag of Lemur cocks. boring as fuck to listen to. Production is all right but on the whole if if i had to recite one refrain i couldn't. Nothing grips me about it. At all. Well one song has a pretty cool gang vocal outro but i don't know the words.
They may sell records but chances are thye will be nothing more then a coaster.
NOW....
if a band could pull off both.. the live spectacle and auditory explosion. That would be awesome.
Chefily the Misfits comes to mind. like early new-fits. When Michale graves was their front man way back when. I never saw a Danzig misfits show.
But they had a Brutal fucking live show, visually appealing, energetic, and songs that stick in your head and you sing along too. Even if you didn't know the words you could just jam out some woahs ...
Very few acts today bring that kind of clout to an audience.