I first saw the four-piece punk rock band The Asthmatics at a warehouse/practice space show in Manchester, N.H., a few months back. It was dingy, it was cold, and it was packed with about 200-300 kids.

The Asthmatics played in a tiny room and within seconds of guitarist/vocalist Tristan Omand striking the first chord, the room blew up, I got an elbow to the throat, and my friend a fist to the eye. True story.

Tomorrow night, they'll play the Worthen in Lowell, and will be joined by TKC, The Serious Geniuses, and The Airwaves, and although there's much less chance of getting annihilated again, the show will provide just as much of the high-energy, fist-pumping power punk that The Asthmatics are capable of delivering.

"We're realistic. We're not about a punk image. We're middle-class white kids from New Hampshire. We're a bunch of dorks, nerds, and skateboarders, and, instead of doing drugs, we started a punk band," says bassist/vocalist Boney Wheeler.

Along with his brother, drummer Corey Minsky, and guitarist/backing vocalist Matt Drew, The Asthmatics have been playing out since 2004 and have built a solid fan base in their hometown of Manchester. But sometimes one project just isn't enough. Omand and Drew are part of The Stompin' Charlies, another Manchester punk outfit, and Wheeler and Omand did a brief five-month stint in the State Street Liars. "The funnest times we've had as a band is the four of us being best friends and having wild times," recalls Wheeler.

Although all of The Asthmatics are in their very early 20s, their range of musical influences dates much farther back, from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to Bruce Springsteen to The Pogues to Tom Waits.

"We really like a lot of soulful rock stuff," says Wheeler. "We grew up listening to punk bands, like Green Day, The Stiff Little Fingers, The Descendants, and some Boston dive rock bands like the Nervous Eaters and The Del Fuegos, but the one band that is a constant influence on all of us is the Bouncing Souls.

"Also, Tristan is a huge fan of Buddy Holly, Hank Williams, and Johnny Cash. We even sometimes do a cover of Johnny Cash's 'I Still Miss Someone.'"

These influences rear their heads in the tight grip of rhythmic and melodic mastery heard throughout many of The Asthmatics' songs, and they plan to take the month of February off and record material for their first full-length album, which they expect to release in late spring/early summer.

So, what sets The Asthmatics apart from the myriad of punk bands in the area? "The only thing we take seriously that separates us from other punk bands is that we try to keep it very direct and to the point -- five-minute set-up, five-minute break-down. We don't talk too long or take long pauses in between songs, but instead play like five or six songs back to back. It's a tactic we ripped off from The Ramones. Johnny Ramone had the formula down -- 52-minute straight sets, no breaks. We want to do that," Wheeler explains.

To further accentuate their dedication and commitment to the music they play, not to mention the intensity of the show, Wheeler shared a very surprising and enlightening fact about the aforementioned Manchester warehouse show.

"During that set, none of our equipment was grounded. Something got unplugged and then re-plugged in between sets, and nothing was grounded. There was an electrical surge running through the equipment, and the entire time we were playing, we were getting electrocuted. Corey had no clue it was even happening, because he's the drummer and wasn't hooked into anything. We didn't stop playing though, we just kept going through the whole thing."

The Asthmatics, The Worthen House, 141 Worthen St., Lowell, Friday, Jan. 5, 9 p.m., 21-plus, $5, www.my-space.com/asthmatics.