Tonight's Top Stop: FourGoodMen

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WHEN NEW ORDER went on hiatus in the late '80s and early '90s, splinter groups formed. Singer-guitarist Bernard Sumner formed Electronic with former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, while bassist Peter Hook constructed Revenge. Feeling left out, and well aware of their relatively anonymous status, keyboardist Gillian Gilbert and drummer Stephen Morris formed a group called the Other Two.

The FourGoodMen must know how Gilbert and Morris felt. The Scottish band could easily have been called FourOtherMen, because while the group includes members of 1980s superstars Simple Minds and Big Country, it doesn't feature the guys you might know, such as singer Jim Kerr, who still rolls out a Simple Minds CD every half decade, and Big Country's singer-songwriter Stuart Adamson, who committed suicide in 2001.

While their names Derek Forbes (Simple Minds/Propaganda), Ian Donaldson (H20), Mick Macneil (Simple Minds) and Bruce Watson (Big Country) won't be on the tip of your tongue, you will be very familiar with the type of music their group creates — anthemic, atmospheric rock — as well as the many songs FourGoodMen will cover from its members other great groups ("In a Big Country," "Don't You Forget About Me").

» Jammin' Java, 227 Maple Ave. E, Vienna, 8 p.m., $18. 703-255-1566.

Photo courtesy RPS Music