A crowd of about 20 people stood outside Mickey’s Tavern waiting to get in Saturday night. Some of the muffled garage-punk sounds of The Momotaros escaped from the impressively soundproofed door.

The reason for the crowd was none other than Oakland-based grunge band Nobunny.

Local garage-punk band The Hussy opened the night, powering through an entertaining, high-energy set. Lead man Bobby Hussy played the part of rock star caricature by climbing onto the bar to play and crowd surfing to the back of the room, endangering the low-hanging chandelier in the process.

Not long after The Hussy left the stage, a quartet of animal-masked mystery men emerged from the back of the bar to anticipatory applause.

While the three raccoon-masked members took their positions on drums, guitar and bass, Nobunny himself assumed his position in the center.

Here it’s important to take a second to fully describe and appreciate Nobunny’s stage attire. There was the mask itself — a ragged, dirty thing covering the top half of Justin Champlin’s face and affixed with a bandana tied around Champlin’s long, disheveled, grungey hair.

Then there was his shirt. It was similar to a tuxedo shirt, but instead of giving off the look of a tuxedo, it was instead that of chiseled male’s body. Finally, there was the pants situation — or more accurately, the lack of pants situation. Champlin confidently rocked only a dark pair of briefs.

While this probably sounds eminently gimmicky, which it was, Nobunny and his band’s music completely held its own. Working within a range of power-pop, punk and garage-rock, Nobunny produced an exciting and powerful set that stirred the small bar into a state of frenzy. The band had a certain beachiness, akin to The Growlers, which blended satisfyingly well with their punkier sound.

Similar to Hussy before him, Champlin spared no theatrics. From sexually dancing on the bar to laying down said bar while singing, Champlin was all over the place. Champlin’s attempt at crowd-surfing was significantly less successful than Hussy’s, most definitely due to the crowd’s lack of enthusiasm for touching Champlin’s bare legs.

All in all, Nobunny put on a fun and exuberant set. Nobunny could have easily played a venue like the Frequency or the High Noon Saloon, so it was neat to see him perform in an even more intimate venue. While it would be easy to dismiss Nobunny as a gimmick act, there is clear substance to the music, which makes for an enjoyable show.