Two days after The Wildbirds officially launch their "Golden Daze" disc with a gig at the Troubadour in Hollywood, the Appleton rockers return to America's Dairyland to play at Atomic Records.

The band's 7 p.m. in-store performance is set for Thursday, Aug. 16 and is followed by a 5 p.m. in-store at the Exclusive Company in its hometown of Appleton and an 8 p.m. gig at the Fox Cities PAC.

The Fox Valley music scene has been humming for a while now with bands like Number One Fan (which has since morphed into The Wildbirds) and The Obsoletes garnering raves, but The Wildbirds -- whose debut disc is released by Universal -- look poised to be the biggest success story so far from the area.

"Golden Daze" sounds like a more soulful, rootsier version of The Strokes (sorry). The band's songs are direct and melodic. There's little ceremony, little gloss, just straight up rock and roll. Some numbers, like "Way Down Low" are blues in the way that The White Stripes are blues. That's to say, garage rock with a hint of Jimmy Page.

The record has drawn raves from Spin.com (which named them artist of the day), All Music Guide and others. Check 'em out.

The Wildbirds return to Milwaukee on Sept. 1 for a gig at The Mad Planet, too.