MxPx Gets Warped

Every summer nowadays, the rock & roll circus hits the road. First it was the alternative rock festival Lollapalooza and Lilith, the travelling mini-Woodstock for female acts. Then it seemed everyone had their own tour: metalheads and thrashers and those fans

dedicated to Ozzy Osbourne, each festival competing for wildness, sizzle and the authenticity of low production values.

Meet the Vans "Warped" tour. Playing parks and parking lots across America, this punker's paradise features as many as 40 bands on up to six stages running simultaneously from noon till dusk. It's the real deal: nitty-gritty punk, rock, ska and variations of the above, packaged for a teenager dressed in black near you.

This year, the big draws are Green Day, Weezer, Mighty Mighty Bosstones and NOFX, but a quaint commitment to democracy dictates that every band plays a 30-minute set. Noone gets special treatment. To make sure the crowds go home sated, there's motocross motorcycle jumping, skateboarding and extreme biking exhibitions and, this year, a human canon ball.

Amid the fashionable pathos and marketing of anarchy, there is a band that doesn't rely on the ingenuity of it tattoos to make it unique. MxPx stands out as a Christian punk trio that braves the mainstream venues like "Warped" and thrives.

Having released their sixth full-length album, "The Ever Passing Moment," MxPx appears to be very close to a major commercial breakthrough (It's their third year on Warped, but first playing the mainstage). In 1998 they quietly sold half a million copies of "Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo," while delivering their loud, "punk rawk show" for growing audiences.

The new album shows they haven't stood pat. Already, reviewers have praised the band's musical evolution, and the first single, a slacker anthem titled "Responsibility," is popping up modern-rock radio.

"We've just come into our own sound," said singer and bassist Mike Herrera when I caught up with them on the second day of Warp's L.A. stand. "It felt like we were doing something that's all our own. I try to take my influences from the original, the real thing rather than an imitation of an imitation. Lots of younger bands are influenced by this band who's influenced by this band, and it's layers away from the source."

When asked for a list of his inspirations, there's no punk or hard music on his list (not to mention gospel greats). "The Beatles, Elvis Costello, The Who, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers." He smiles, "It's all about songs. I don't listen to a song for its style; I listen for how good it is. I listen to everything, country to punk rock to old rock & roll."

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