"If 12-year-old girls like it." Theres a condition that has long served the industry.

Its a point of reference that used to be checked behind closed doors, but pre-teen targeting -probably pops most enduring and powerful proposition- seems more prevalent than ever. Its not. Its just more blatant, more shameless, more obtrusive. Thats because barely teen power, the unbeatable force that is claiming hegemony over all pop culture, has risen to meet the mark.

Indie rock taught you to do it yourself, and now little brother little sister, theyre doing it for themselves.

Serial Joe, like Hanson but not, like The Moffatts but not, is a group of four little big stars from Newmarket, Ont. How big? They are playing at Park des Iles Saturday. How big? Their first US show was at Woodstock.

Whats getting them there, aside form the fact that theyre better than, say, Silverchair -and better than youd think? Its about a record, Face Down (their second after an EP), that was produced by Dave Ogilvie of Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails fame, and a video for the song mistake. Both are fine introductions to the band, except that with the video, theres no swearing, these 14- and 15-years-olds were 20-plus pros but only that Ryan Thomas Dennis, Serial Joes lead boy, is probably the cleanest, cutest spiked-haired musician you've ever seem on TV.

Hair goop aside, the cleaner and straight-edged the better. Serial Joes record in the gold realm, and sentiments like this have got to have something to do with it:

"School is my top priority. One day this could all fall apart, and what do you have to fall back on? If you dont have school, you dont have nothing," Dennis said.

You can only assume that his mother, Debbie Dennis, who happens to be the bands manager, knows the power of teaching them positive smarts.

"Be yourself," might be one of them. "The sounds of music changes constantly, and if we were to go with whats in these days and put in more rap, it wouldnt sound like us," bassit John James Davidson said. "It would be like Korn doing some techno thing or something."

"Growth is natural," might be another.

"When we think back to even a few months ago, we think we could have done better," drummer Dan Akira Stadnicki said. "Were improving all the time. Its a little annoying."