It was standing room only at the Oriental Pearl in Westport on Thursday night for Dartmouth teenager Ethan Church, who was playing drums at his first gig with new rock band Reversed Perception.

People of all ages sat around tables or stood around the dance floor, nodding heads, tapping feet, swaying and sometimes singing along to the music.

“I think they’re really good,” said Dartmouth High student Isabella from a table full of Church’s classmates. “They’re amazing.”

Fourteen-year-old Church said that he met his bandmates — vocalist Sam Lyrgen, who also plays keyboard and guitar, bassist Sofie Lopes, and guitarist Jack Bernard — at Double Bar music school in Westport.

Members hail from all over the South Coast, and recently released their first album of original songs, called “Can I sit next to you at the party?”

The album is available through online music streaming sites such as Spotify, and has already been listened to tens of thousands of times.

“I think it’s great,” said Ben Abraham, who came down from Taunton to see his friend Jack play guitar.

“It doesn’t really look like their first performance,” he added. “They’re playing real well. It looks like they’re having a good time too up there.”

“They sound good,” agreed Westport resident Chris Gagnon, who couldn’t help tapping his foot in time to the music as he waited for his take out at the restaurant venue’s front desk.

Another audience member noted, “To me they sound like The Cure.”

“I’ve heard their album a bunch of times,” said Brett Knappik from Raynham. “I listen to it on repeat.”

After playing 45 minutes of original tunes, the band left the stage to cheers and applause.

“It feels awesome,” said Lopes. “I always wanted to be in a band. So to actually be in one, and then perform in one, is really cool.”

Church was also happy with how the evening went.

“It was awesome. So much fun,” he said. “One of my favorite gigs I’ve ever played.” 

Church also plays drums for cover band Off Kilter, and said that he gigs around a lot with them. 

But he loved playing original songs with Reversed Perception.

“That was an experience,” he said. “It’s a life changer.”

As for the future, Church said, “We’re hoping to get more gigs right now. We’re writing new stuff, way different from the album. And then we have a bunch of new updates and announcements coming up, with a music video and stuff like that.”