Good time boys

MxPx and Good Charlotte rock the BMP Festival

By Brian Goslow

MxPx and Good Charlotte share the stage with the Taxis and Miravie on Friday, May 18 at the State Theatre, 609 Congress Street, Portland. Doors open at 6 p.m.; $12 tickets include admission to the BMP show featuring Jeremiah Freed, C60, Hawthorne, and the Bottle Rocket Kings at the Asylum. Proceeds benefit the AIDS Project. Call (207) 775-3331.

MXPX: from indie-rockers to major-label success.

When the local winners of this year’s Portland Phoenix/FNX Best Music Poll look through this issue to discover their awards this Friday,they won’t be the only ones celebrating. MxPx, who headline the Best Music Poll Festival at the State Theater, will also be kicking up their heels, commemorating the release of The Renaissance EP (Fat Wreck Chords), which hits the streets on Tuesday (May 22). The Bremerton, Washington punk trio — bassist Mike Herrera, guitarist Tom Wisniewski, and drummer Yuri Ruley — are in the midst of their “On The Road Again Tour” with fellow power punk-conspirators Good Charlotte. After five rambunctious shows in Florida, the duo have been slowly been making their way up the East Coast to New England, where they’re playing Best Music Poll parties in Boston, Providence, and here in Portland.

Okay, we’re doing a little shameless self-promotion here, but all the money goes to the AIDS Project, so we can feel good about it.

Since originally forming as Magnified Plaid while still attending high school in 1993, MxPx has walked a difficult path by carrying the high expectations of playing under the punk, indie, and Christian rock tags. They tackled the effects of trying to meet expectations of others (including MTV, which labeled them “the last bright fire in the pop-punk pantheon”) on 2000’s The Ever Passing Moment (A & M/Tooth and Nail), whether they be those of company accountants watching the bottom line or fans looking for them to be musical and religious purists.

The group avoids preaching from the stage, choosing instead to speak through their songs. On “Responsibility,” Wisniewski repels attempts by those who would stir him towards adulthood, declaring, “I’m still young and I’d like to stay that way/’Cause growing up won’t make everything okay/’I’m still young and I’d like to stay that way/’I’ve got a voice and I’ve got a lot to say.”

After releasing Pokinatcha (1994), Teenage Politics, On the Cover (both in 1995), and Life in General (1997) on Christian rock label Tooth and Nail, MxPx signed with A & M Records. The band’s jump to a major label created confusion amongst fans who loved them for their Christian beliefs and DIY indie rock ethics. Their first major label release was a reissue of Life in General, which was followed by 1998’s Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo. Tooth and Nail also kept the MxPx product flowing with 1999’s out take-filled Let It Happen and a live album, At The Show, which included their version of the Ramones’ “The KKK Took My Baby Away.”

MxPx is calling the nine-song Renaissance a tide-me-over for fans until they record their next full-length disc. The EP resurrects their original raw-edged punk sound, which some fans, and even some members of the band themselves, thought had been filed down too much on The Ever Passing Moment. In returning to their roots, MxPx handled all of the recording duties, reunited with original guitarist Andy Husted, and asked a former restaurant co-worker to create the art work.

While Good Charlotte’s self-titled 2000 debut on Epic Records barely dented the lower echelons of the Billboard album chart, the lack of instant success didn’t slow the band down. The album’s first single, “Little Things,” was featured in Dude, Where’s My Car? while the video for its second single, “Motivation Proclamation,” has been making the rounds on MTV. The band also wrote “Click,” the theme song for MTV’s new animated show, Undergrads, which premiered last month. Next fall, they’re slated to make their debut on the silver screen.

The Annapolis, Maryland group, which formed in 1996 hoping to emulate the success of their musical heroes the Clash, Cure, and Beastie Boys, recently filmed scenes for an as-of-yet untitled teen-spoof movie. While you can see the possible downfalls of being forever typecast as a novelty act after performing Big Eighties tunes by OMD (“If You Leave”), Kenny Loggins (“Footloose”), and Bow Wow Wow (“I Want Candy”), not to mention Paul Anka’s slurpy-sweet “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” no one could honestly label Good Charlotte as a novelty act.

All the songs on their debut disc were written by guitarist Benji (a/k/a “Kid Vicious”), who’s joined by his twin brother and lead vocalist Joel; together, they started the band with high school friend Paul, and recently filled their line-up with the acquisition of second guitarist Billy (they like to keep things on a first-name basis). Later this month, they’ll triumphantly return to the Nation’s Capitol for a return performance at the influential HFStival at Washington, D.C. ’s RFK Stadium (where they sealed their major label deal a few short years ago) before heading out on the Vans Warped Tour this summer.

Brian Goslow can be reached at goslow@yahoo.com.