The alt-rockers It's Me, Margaret mix some optimism in with their angst.

Pain, fear and loneliness pulse through Hurry Up And Bleed. But somehow, despite an all-encompassing anguish, it stops short of outright despair. Rather than copping the attitude that life is horrible and always will be, songwriters Paula Venise and Leslie Pereira, frontwomen for the band It''s Me, Margaret, have injected the songs on Hurry Up with just enough optimism that they avoid being bleak and predictable. Mirroring the lyrics, the music is built on an alt-rock foundation with sometimes melodic, almost pop, harmonies and hooks.

"It reaches people," Venise says from her San Fernando Valley apartment. "It''s not really a type of music. It''s just music from the heart. We are definitely telling the truth about having a hard time."

In addition to their co-songwriting duties, Venise and Pereira share duties on lead vocals, and Pereira doubles on lead guitar, with Jeff Page on drums, Francis Fallon on guitar, and Bob Diekmeier on bass.

In the liner notes to Hurry Up, there are many allusions to emotional difficulties the pair have had to overcome. Nothing specific is mentioned, and the musicians remain elusive when questioned about the underlying sources of pain that are so evident on the album.

"Because there are two main songwriters and we''re both females, it''s hard to pinpoint it," says Venise. "Plus we have a band full of guys who have their own emotions."

Pereira says she writes many of her songs on an acoustic guitar before bringing them to the band. She says they grow almost organically as the band comes into contact with the music. From there, the songs often develop new levels of meaning and depth as the other bandmembers make their own contributions to the song.

"Some songs stay small," Pereira says, "but [the men in the band] are feeling different things. It''s really exciting to listen to them put their emotion into the song. It''s better than anything you can imagine. It''s what I live for."

Venise and Pereira first came together in 1998, after Pereira saw a music-based, spoken-word performance by Venise. Pereira says she and Venise came up with the band''s name almost by accident. They originally intended to use a single word--something simple like "Mildred"--when they tried "Margaret." Pereira says, "It was one of those brainstorms, where suddenly it went ba-ching!" as both of the women flashed on the title of Judy Blume''s classic book for young women, Are You There God? It''s Me, Margaret, which revolves around the experiences of a young woman who is experiencing the angst and trauma of puberty. It''s an apt name for this angst-driven band.

Just as teenagers often have a difficult time identifying exact reasons for their suffering, it''s nearly impossible to decipher the source of It''s Me, Margaret''s. But the lack of specificity doesn''t make the hurt any less real, and Venise and Pereira drive the point home with simple precision. In the album''s opening track they sing, "The walls are caving in. I can''t breathe. I can''t see. Don''t want to be here." And on "So Sorry," which has been getting airplay on KMBY and other radio stations around the country, the duo sings, "Up all night hurt inside. Wondering if I''ll ever be all right... Come a long way this time. Bring along pain/ All our lives. Sing along sane, you''ll be fine."

Running through the album is a series of actual phone messages left on Pereira''s answering machine by someone they call the Dead Bird Lady. At one time, Pereira and Venise rehearsed at Pereira''s condominium--which apparently created a strained relationship with the neighboring Dead Bird Lady. The woman''s anger is almost humorous in its intensity, but it''s also a little sad as she rages about the rock band''s noise, behavior and animal care.

"The messages are real--very, very real," laughs Venise. "She got angrier and angrier.

"We think she was an old showgirl. When she came to the door, she had this incredible makeup situation going on, and her false eyelashes would be teetering off her eyes."

But if the Dead Bird Lady makes for a somewhat clownish character, she also represents a danger. Her anger and dislike for Pereira and Venise seem to be the distillation of the menacing forces that afflict the singers'' lives.

And yet, despite the threat, there''s something that seems to keep Pereira and Venise looking ahead rather than back, and outward as much as inward. Venise, in fact, says that the pain expressed in the album is a pain felt by everyone; it''s something she hopes to touch and somehow ease by expressing it.

"I believe people always have a struggle and they''re working through it," Venise says. "It''s kind of like they have their own story" to go along with the band''s songs.

And as a way of underlining the slight ray of hope that illuminates the album, Hurry Up closes with the almost anthemic "Don''t Give Up." "I have no voice I''ve been told to keep it down/But I won''t ever let it slip away...Want what you want...Don''t give up."

It''s Me, Margaret plays Blue Fin Billiards Thursday at 10:30pm. 375-7000.