The Flyer's music writers tell you where you can go. If age ain't nothing but a number, then having zero formal music training shouldn't mean much to Memphis' newest, and most thrashing punk conglomerate, Self-Centered. These four self-taught rockers' ages hover between 11 and 13, but hand any one of them a guitar or mike and you'd think the musical hell-raisers were at least five years older. Following up a successful August Map Room performance, Eva Brewer, Hunter Thompson, Celeste Thompson, and Kelly Brownell will take an Overton Park Shell variety show hostage for at least two head-banging songs this Friday. "I'd been thinking about forming a band since I was 8," 12-year-old Brewer says. "I didn't know how to play guitar, but pop taught me how to play a few chords." The pre-teen's father Roy Brewer, known for his masterful violin stylings, has helped the band refine their sound and book a few gigs. He occasionally even fills in on drums. "It's weird to watch your kid turn around [in rehearsal] and say you're messing up," he says. "I'm 38, and I don't play much rock-and-roll anymore. Rock-and-roll really belongs to these young kids." Most of the band's songwriting is collaborative, but Brewer's own "Macromedia," a comedic trouncing of all things commercial, defines the band's attitude. And you tell me what I should be. Yet you ask me what to be. Macromedia, Propecia, Amnesia. That's not all. What should you? What should I be? We are what we see. When Brewer sings these words, it's clear the band isn't just tearing chords up and bouncing like Rage wannabes. "The world isn't perfect. It's not like those smiley faces on coffee cups," says bassist Thompson. "I wrote a song called 'End It' about racism. I talk to my dad a lot about that kind of stuff. I can't stand someone who doesn't like someone else because of what they look like." Thompson taught himself the bass two months ago. At the Map Room, his brown hair was tied up in pigtails. "It's a lot of stage acting," he says. "I have a different personality when I'm playing. It's really cool though to be in band with two girls who are hard-core. That just, like, never happens." -- Ashley Fantz