On Friday, May 27, Enumclaw teacher Amy Erwin's life was taken by her husband. He then turned the gun on himself and took his own life, leaving behind two children, ages 13 and 7. In the stunned aftermath of this tragedy, Amy Erwin‘s longtime friend, Tacoma's Sean Lund, has organized a benefit show at The New Frontier Lounge scheduled for Friday.

"This show is a fundraiser for those kids," says Lund. "I had reconnected with (Amy Erwin) after our last high school reunion, four years ago. She was a near and dear friend to me in high school, when my dad died. She was one of the few people I relied on, who helped me get through that time. My heart just goes out to those kids. I felt at a loss about what to do, and I was frustrated and angry about her being murdered. ... I thought that I could turn around and do some good."

All of the proceeds from Friday night's benefit at The New Frontier, which would usually go to the bands, will instead go into a memorial fund set up in the name of the Erwin children at the Washington State Employees Credit Union. Additional donations can be sent to the Washington State Employees Credit Union, or deposited at any of their offices.

"It's a drop in the bucket, but I figure anything will help," says Lund. "Those kids are going to face a long road ahead, emotionally and financially, and they're going to need all the help they can get."

While this is certainly a weighty subject, the idea of a benefit show is to hopefully get together and have fun for a good cause. The lineup Lund has organized will go a long way toward making this happen, with the pop-punk of Olympia's The Hard Way, the jangly power-pop of Seattle's the Tripwires, and Sean and Chris Lund's own Big Star-influenced (and Tacoma-based) Lund Bros.

"(My brother Chris Lund) and I have been playing together for more years than I can count," says Sean Lund. "I think we started playing together in 1990. So, we're going on 21 years, now. ... We've been in Tacoma for a gazillion years, so we're basically hometown boys."

The trio of the brothers Lund and bassist Gwon Chang, have a definite affinity for strong hooks and fuzzed-out guitars that provide a nice counterpoint to often emotional lyrics. Vocally, the brothers resemble Alex Chilton in the way he strived for those high registers; but when the sing-along choruses kick in, the Lund Bros. drift into Weezer territory - which is all a way to say the Lund Bros. are definitely drawing from some pretty big power-pop icons.

Power pop is a hard genre to nail, and the Lund Bros. do an admirable job hitting the sweet spot that only power pop can reach. When done right, there's little that can compare with the way power pop seems to reach into your brain and pull out all of those tingly feelings that remain dormant in the face of colder music.

As Sean Lund says, this show is just a drop in the bucket of the healing process. But if we must start somewhere, maybe it's best to start as a community, in one room, celebrating music's strange power with one another. It couldn't hurt.

The Lund Bros.

With The Hard Way and The Tripwires
Friday, June 17, 9 p.m., $5
The New Frontier Lounge, 301 E. 25th St, Tacoma
253.572.4020