The good folks over at Xconomy and the Washington Technology Industry Association will be hosting their summer celebration and Battle of the Tech Bands this Thursday night at the Pyramid Alehouse in Seattle. We're looking forward to checking out the scene and hearing which Seattle geeks can truly rock out.

There's certainly some musical talent in the Seattle tech community, as noted a few months ago when we had some fun assembling our "Seattle Tech All Star Fantasy Rock Band."

But rather than judge for ourselves, we're inviting a true expert to offer his opinions of the five bands that will take the stage Thursday night.

Former Seattle P-I pop music critic Gene Stout  -- who over the past 25 years has interviewed and reviewed everyone from Quincy Jones and James Taylor to Eddie Vedder and Courtney Love -- plans to offer his insightful take on the night's sound waves.

Stout

We worked alongside Gene while at the P-I and his breadth of knowledge about the music business is truly impressive. He's also got some great stories to tell from his days of hanging around rock 'n' roll stars.

You can preview of the Xconomy Battle of the Bands finalists here.

And check back to get Gene's analysis, as well as the big winners of the night. If you are coming out to the event, make sure you stop by to say hi to Gene or the rest of the TechFlash team.