Maybe she bucks tradition because her music is non-traditional. Rather than a guitar, Young plays the piano. And rather than sticking to one style, she moves all over the musical map.

It’s music that people generally don’t like, she said. It’s piano, bass and drums. It’s not particularly pretty.

Young, 21, said that in a typical set, she may play her own arrangement of Brahms’ Madchen Lied, followed by There’s No Business Like Show Business and her own original material.

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Her use of a piano has led to the slapping of a gothic label upon her. While she doesn’t feel this is accurate, she accepts it all the same, labeling herself The Minnie Pearl of Goth in response to her critics.

Her music is far removed from the gothic works of such bands as Joy Division and Sisters of Mercy. Rather than a constant doom-and-gloom feel, Young’s music goes from rock to jazz, from a Tori Amos high-pitched lilt to a throaty pack-a-day L7 rasp.

A song moves in one direction before spinning on its axis and shifting toward a different point.

The piano works well, complemented wonderfully by Chris Sauer’s bass. Sometimes distorted, sometimes heavy, there’s no loss from the absence of a guitar.

Young played around St. Louis before starting her own band, including stints in November 9th and Waterworks. Young said she calls her band by her own name because of her over-inflated self-esteem.

I’m horribly arrogant, she said. I like to see my name in the front; I like to have my own press.

And what does her supporting cast think of her narcissism?

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They don’t really care, she said. They’re scared of me. They’re scared to say anything different than that.

She laughs, a twinkling sort of sound that leads me to believe this whole interview is part of a humorous image Young is trying to create. She is reluctant to admit that she named the band after herself since she wrote all the music before the group was even assembled. Or that, despite her age, she is looked at as a leading figure in the female-heavy St. Louis scene.

Young is on a mission to restore the piano to the former rebellious image popularized by early rock icons like Jerry Lee Lewis.

Piano is kind of used in a pretty delicate way, she said. It used to be kind of a sexual, grinding instrument. It’s kind of lost that, so that’s what I’m working for, that attitude, that kind of emotion.

Don’t expect to see Young straddling a piano bench in a way that leaves sweat on the brows of male audience members. Young said she never sits during a performance.

On Tuesday, Young signed with World Domination Records, a subsidiary of Capitol, just on the strength of her Meow demo. And if Young’s expectations are answered, she will be rich and famous before long.

I just want to have fun, she said. It’s about experience and not putting boundaries on yourself.

Kristine Young plays at 9:45 p.m. Saturday at Hangar 9, 511 S. Illinois Ave. Radio Iodine and Sugarstickygirl will also perform. Admission is $3.