Los Angeles – There’s a fluid element to Skaters live show. They play really close together, even on a larger stage, and they move around each other in an accidental, random fashion. You expect it to run afoul… But it doesn’t. And then there’s the kissing.

The band from New York started their show in dim lights, with their backs to the crowd, and they had a habit of wandering back to this aesthetic at the end of each song. But in between the dimness, and the huddling by the drum set, lights went up on a simultaneously enthusiastic and relaxed show. As promised in an interview with BestNewBands.com the week prior, their sound is “unexpected,” and hard to classify.

“It’s our first time playing in L.A.,” said lead singer Michael Ian Cummings at the El Rey on Saturday, to which the audience cheered. “So far so good,” he then said, with a laugh and a bit of irony, as though he had expected different. It was a sizable crowd for an opening act (headlining the tour was London band Palma Violets.)  Skaters felt very supported—lots of kids, fans and friends from New York, and even by their label, Warner Bros. Records.

Born from the dissipation of their former bands—Dead Trees and Paddingtons/Dirty Pretty Things—and from the bromance of Cummings and guitarist Joshua Hubbard, Skaters has been described by some as “dark garage rock” and early Strokes.  By themselves: A guitar-driven fusion of punk and hip hop inspired by the Big Apple.  Their music can have an overzealous, too-many-things-at-once quality—a Manhattan trait for sure. But that’s only in moments, and by the third song not at all.

The overall energy was fun and roam-y and singer Cummings has a Sinatra-esque stage presence. He holds the mic in his palm and leans forward and back in a very relaxed way, delivering hazy, at times ghoulish, vocals.  Noah Rubin on drums is energetic and dug in. Up front and center, along with Cummings, were guitarist Hubbard and bass guitarist Dan Burke, and an additional touring guitarist. Three guitarists and the lead singer squeezed at the front of the stage, within arms reach—it was oddly sweet.

This is one of those bands you have to see live, and at this point partly because of their mystique. Their music is hard to distinguish and hard to find. They have a few songs they’ve released, but their EP “Schemers,” which independently received 10,000 downloads and initially brought them notice, is untraceable, and the songs they have released only give a small taste of their feel/sound. But in addition to that, they provide a fun, charismatic live experience. They have a camaraderie that is infectious and very noticeable.

“Josh likes to make-out onstage,” Cummings said, after guitarist Hubbard kissed him on the mouth a few times and Cummings cupped his ass at one point.  But kissing aside, you can tell Skaters likes each other, they like to play together, and they’re not over thinking it. There is a naturalness and confidence to their show, an ownership.

“This is the first band where I’ve gone into it knowing exactly what sound I wanted to get out of it,” Cummings told an East Coast publication earlier this year.  The show felt like a window into the band’s friendship and lifestyle, and a real display of personality. You can’t help but like them, in all their fluid mish-mash.

It was an auspicious L.A. beginning and their last show in America before their UK tour with Deap Vally. The band’s first album “Manhattan” will be released Feb. 25, 2014.