Joan Jett once wrote that, "True rock stars shouldn't like to call themselves a rock star. People like Mick Jagger and David Bowie know no other way to be. They don't plan their way of carrying themselves. It's in their bones.

"True rock stars are born to it."

The same could be said for punk rock stars - most notably that spiky-haired poser Vacancies frontman Billy Crooked sees at gigs.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about, where he's coming from, or what he represents," Crooked says.

The Vacancies, a punk rock band signed to Jett's Blackheart Records label, are not punk because its members wear makeup, rail at the president or crank up their amps. The band is punk because it's who they are.

"It's thinking for yourself," Crooked said. "We didn't want to be (labeled) a 'punk rock' band. It's just what we like playing."

The Cleveland-based singer is a student of the musical style, having cut his teeth on cassette tapes from The Ramones and The Sex Pistols.

"It wasn't about trying to label it," he said of their music. "These were guys that just wanted to play rock and roll.

"It stood for something."

The Vacancies, Crooked on vocals, Michael James on guitar, Bo on bass and Angelo Merendino on drums, is a modern day punk band, combining impassioned lyrics
with full-throttle rock. The band calls it as it sees it, and holds nothing back at shows.

"We say some things; we talk about some issues," Crooked said. "And we just try to give it everything we can."

The Vacancies perform at the Buffalo Icon on Monday, July 31, at 7 p.m. Joan Jett performs Tuesday, July 1, as part of The Warped Tour at Darien Lake. To read our
interview with Jett, visit our entertainment section.