The lights dim in a smoky, crowded club, hushing its crowd of over 500.

Moments later, the first power chord blasts over a pair of 15-foot tall speakers, sending the audience into a frenzy of cheers and pumping fists.

This was the scene Trapt saw as they stepped on stage at Club Bijou in Toledo Wednesday night.

They began the show with several of their more well-known songs to get the crowd pumped, but soon moved to tracks off their newest CD released in mid-September, “Someone In Control.”

Guitarist Simon Ormandy, who sat down for an interview after the concert, said the band set out to make a record that’s more indicative of their live shows.

“We play so many shows that we kinda developed our sound and we have more of a focus,” Ormandy said. “The first record was kind of like, ‘Let’s go make a record.'”

The band began its new tour around the release of “Someone in Control” and have already played for audiences in Chicago, Des Moines and other cities. Ormandy said the crowds are what every band really wants.

“You wanna play for as many people as possible,” he said. “It sure is fun to play in front of 100-thousand people.

Ormandy discussed how he knew he wanted to join a band, saying, “When you’re a kid and you pick up a guitar for the first time and you say, ‘This is what I want to do.'”‘

Trapt’s energy showed all night, from lead vocalist Chris Brown jumping all over stage to sweat flying off of drummer Aaron Montgomery’s forehead as he thrashed a drum set to the cool intensity that bassist Peter Charell exuded during each song.

Their energy was infectious, keeping the audience pumped all night.

During the concert, burly security guards stood between the stage and a metal barrier that kept fans at bay.

But the guards’ attention was more focused on fans off their feet than on – crowd surfers frequently landed in their waiting arms.

One fan was even launched on stage, landing just short of lead vocalist Chris Brown’s feet – but that isn’t the only time Trapt has had a surprise on stage.

“We were playing in Rochester, New York,” Ormandy said, “and this woman – a rather portly woman – wiggled on stage like a seal.

“Our manager, Pete, tried to grab her but there was too much of her,” he said with a laugh. “It was just funny how she got onto the stage, if you can imagine a seal just wiggling on stage.”

Before playing Trapt’s last planned song, “Stand Up” – an angry, angstful track off their new CD – Brown said to the crowd, “Let out all your aggressions on this one.”

The fans went wild, screaming out the lyrics and banging their heads to the beat.

The song ended, but their energy did not. “Encore,” they chanted.

It didn’t take long to bring Trapt back onto the stage for two more songs, the latter being their most well-known: “Headstrong,” their trademark song that made them popular in 2002.

In dramatic fashion, Brown climbed on top of the barrier during the final anthem, a sea of hands reaching up to him during the concert’s final moments.

Trapt’s next stop is tonight at the Odeon in Cleveland.

They’ll be on tour until Dec. 15 – Ormandy’s birthday, ironically – when they take a break before touring either Europe or Japan in 2006.