These days, what’s passed off as independent and punk rock really isn’t much more than D.I.Y. laziness—fluff-filled bands and songs whose substance is eclipsed by style. That’s why New Jersey’s The Static Jacks (vocalist Ian Devaney, guitarists Henry Kaye and Michael Sue-Poi, bassist Spencer Kimmins, and drummer Nick Brennan) are a rare and refreshing act.

Nineteen- and twenty-something-year-olds don’t often write entrancing songs that disregard the latest trends and defy simple labeling. Nor do most make a conscious effort to take control of their own affairs, from the music to artwork to booking shows. Fewer still are willing and eager to leap outside their comfort zones and play their songs in strange locales to reach a wider audience. But The Static Jacks walk these paths of D.I.Y. musicianship, with the idea that a band isn’t just a group of people writing and playing its catalogue.

Thus, The Jacks operate so that each member is involved with every single aspect, no matter how small. Whether it’s the key of their newest song or the handmade posters at their shows, the effort is totally collaborative, the product of the whole band. And outside of playing conventional gigs at east-coast standards like Mercury Lounge and The Bowery Ballroom in New York, Maxwell’s in Hoboken, and The Middle East in Boston, The Jacks have keenly cut their teeth busking around NYC; they often play acoustically to large crowds in Union Square and Williamsburg, captivating passersby and park regulars alike. At the same time there’s no aversion to the fickle college scene, where tastemakers and critics fete the band repeatedly for its charged live show.

Given all of this, then, perhaps The Static Jacks’ success shouldn’t come as a surprise. To date they’ve shared the stage with Tokyo Police Club, Youth Group, Nightmare Of You , So So Glos, as well as other notable acts. The guys have been featured numerous times on RCRDLBL.com, AbsolutePunk.net, MTViggy.com , and the INDIE FEED podcast. Recently thedelimagazine.com named The Jacks its NYC October Band of the Month. And even MTV couldn’t write the group off, featuring its music on The Hills and The City.

Needless to say that these achievements have all been self-made; there are no agents or entourages pulling strings behind the scenes—not yet, anyway. (The Jacks are currently managed by Adam Kaye, himself a vet of the New Jersey punk scene.) The band also enlisted its good friend Andrew Maury (RAC/Live Sound Engineer for Ra Ra Riot)to produce its latest EP, Laces. Which leads right back to the band’s approach of doing things on its own terms—a formula that The Static Jacks intend to stay loyal to, whatever the future might bring. So breathe in the fresh air that is this dynamically original act, and watch them break the barriers that have hemmed in music for so long.