Gentlemen Rogues formed in Austin, Texas, in 2011, and for years they focused on releasing singles and EPs rather than full-length albums.

“We used to have a philosophy that the average person’s attention span would be best suited for short blasts of rock ’n’ roll,” said singer and guitarist Danny Dunlap. “I guess (we had) a ‘leave them wanting more’ ideology?”

Looking back, however, Dunlap also recognizes that he struggled to finish writing songs because he was his own harshest critic and was constantly censoring himself. In the past few years, he has shaken off that negative perspective and experienced a creative burst that doesn’t seem to be stopping.

“I think those couple of COVID years helped slow down my life and allowed me to reevaluate what was important to me and what I wanted to accomplish with my time,” he said. “Our new album ‘Surface Noise’ was written and recorded during that period, and it felt like there was some sort of renewed fire in our bellies when we made it.”

You can hear that fire all over “Surface Noise,” which is packed wall to wall with loud, fast and catchy rock ‘n’ roll that recalls great guitar-forward, poppy punk bands like Superchunk, Sugar and Jawbreaker. At times, Gentlemen Rogues sound like fellow Texans the Old 97s without the twang. At others, they’re like a crunchier, more aggressive version of The Smiths.

On Thursday, Dunlap and his mates — drummer Josh Power, guitarist John Christoffel and bassist/vocalist Dave Hawkins — will stop in Central Oregon for a show at Bend’s Silver Moon Brewing. And last week, he answered a few questions from GO! via email. Here’s that exchange, edited for space and clarity.

GO!: People keep saying rock ’n’ roll is dead. Is that the case in Austin? Do you all feel like outliers in that vaunted music scene, or are there a bunch of punky pop-rock bands down there?

Danny Dunlap: Rock ’n’ roll will never die. It always comes back around. Rock ’n’ roll has never even remotely come close to dying as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know if everyone in the band would agree with me, but do I feel like we are outliers on some level. As a band, Gentlemen Rogues definitely isn’t making “fashionable” music, but we’re being true to ourselves which is obviously way more important.

In our experience, it’s been hard to gain traction and build a solid fan base in Austin, partially due to the sheer number of bands in the city. There might even be … too many bands in Austin?

GO!: What’s a band you think you guys sound like? Who’s a songwriter you admire and/or try to emulate?

DD: When you’re a band that is first starting out, you’re more prone to try to sound like your heroes. That’s kind of how you learn how to play and write your own songs. Hopefully, you eventually find your way, and more importantly, your own voice. All of that to say, I don’t think we consciously try to sound like anyone, and I’m not sure who I think we sound like? We tend to get recurring comparisons to The Replacements, Superchunk and Hüsker Dü/Sugar.

As far as songwriting inspirations, that would be people like Paul Weller (The Jam), Paul Westerberg (The Replacements), David Gedge (The Wedding Present/Cinerama) and Johnny Marr (The Smiths).

GO!: Listening to Gentlemen Rogues is like happily lying in a bathtub filled to the top with my own CD collection. Why is ’90s alt-rock and indie rock the greatest thing in human history?

DD: I told someone recently that I think the ’60s and the ’90s were the two best decades for music. I don’t know if I fully understand the appeal, but I find that my favorite bands of all time come from those two decades. I think the appeal might be the quality of the songs.

In the ’60s there were the Beatles, the Kinks, Love and all of that awesome British Invasion stuff. In the ’90s we got cool, poppy, crunchy, rock ’n’ roll like Sugar, Weezer, Superdrag and all of the cool Matador Records and Merge Records bands like Archers of Loaf, Superchunk and Spoon. I don’t know! There was just a lot of really good music that came out in the ’90s.

If You Go

What: Gentlemen Rogues and Poolside Leper Society

When: 7 p.m. Thursday

Where: Silver Moon Brewing, 24 NW Greenwood Ave., Bend

Cost: $10

Contact: silvermoonbrewing.com