MXPX

At the age of 20, the members of Bremerton, Washington's MxPx are already punk rock veterans. Heck, they've shared a stage with the Sex Pistols (at Seattle's 1996 Bumbershoot festival) - what more proof do you need that these guys are the real deal? They started proving it at an exceedingly young age. Four years ago, three 15 year-old kids calling themselves Magnified Plaid started pounding out music inspired by and similar to the Descendants and other Southern California pop-punk bands. They didn't really love their band name, however, which was a tribute to the original guitarist's penchant for wearing one particularly loud plaid shirt. Consequently, the name was abbreviated to M.P., but in Yuri's handwriting, periods become "X"'s and since he made up the show posters for the band, the four-letter moniker stuck. Tom was added two years ago ( replacing the aesthetically offensive former guitarist) to solidify the line-up that would take the band into their post-teen years. Maybe his background as a drummer made up for his relative inexperience playing guitar (he had only played for a year at the time). He and Yuri lock into backbreakingly fast rhythms that rank with vintage ... more...