There is a slogan in modern music: “Punk is dead.”

Otto’s Niteclub and Underground proved punk just got young.

Friday was a proving ground for the often misunderstood genre. Bands such as The Aquaholics and Moto demonstrated that young alternative rockers have much to learn from their punk rock predecessors.

Headlining the evening was punk rock establishment The Effigies. The Effigies played up to its notorious reputation of driving beats from drummer Steve Economou and a hypnotic bass from Paul Zamost. Coupled with the guitar playing of Robert McNaughton and John Kezdy’s rough and almost didactic manner of singing, The Effigies pleased a crowd which unfortunately dwindled after the opening performances.

While the band played newer selections, older tracks such as “Body Bag,” “Strong Box” and possibly the strongest song in their discography, “Security,” were what fans yearned for and The Effigies happily provided.

Preceding The Effigies’ strong performance, The Methadones should be credited with snapping the crowd out of the tedium presented by Moto. Comparing the two bands would be like comparing canned iced tea to aged red wine; Moto could just not live up. The difference could be credited to the fact that The Methadones’ lineage is based in other bands such as Screeching Weasel, The Riverdales and The Vindictives.

Moto based most of its performance in predictable chord repetition, which is not uncommon for the genre, but is usually counterbalanced with well-constructed lyrics. Moto missed on both counts. The band’s song “Love Ballad” sounded formulaic and mundane. While it isn’t polite, The Methadones should have declared a “playoff” and played Moto right off the stage.

Worst of all were The Aquaholics, who claimed, “We want it dark. We’re satanic.” That was barely the case. The audience had little connection to the band, whose singer threw a straight-arm salute to the crowd.

In a room full of rockers at the beginning of the night, The Aquaholics could barely get one person to raise some devil horns. Most fans seemed to be having more fun in the Underground, complete with pool tables and performances from Langhorne Slim, O’Death and local comics with guitars, The Riverbilly Cousin Touchers.

Punk wasn’t killed at Otto’s, but it sure learned a lesson. The pioneers and practitioners of punk still hold the genre as something worth performing, but young and inexperienced bands have yet to look beyond the slogans and noise to find a unique sound.