Be Like Max embodies Punk Rock Bowling’s DIY spirit

The members of Be Like Max are pleased to be part of Punk Rock Bowling this weekend.

Actually, that’s probably an understatement. According to singer Charles Fine, when he and his bandmates found out they had landed a spot on this year’s bill, they danced with glee. “I called them into the room and we were dancing around the living room,” Fine recalls of sharing the good news with the other guys. “Yeah, we were stoked.

“It’s huge for us,” Fine goes on, noting how great of an opportunity it is for his band and all the other local acts on the bill. “We’re all incredibly excited. You know, we go to that festival every year anyway, and now we get to play. We get to be a part of something that we genuinely enjoy. I think the exposure is going to be huge for us. A lot of new people are going to find our band. I think a lot of new people are going to see our band.”

Of more than two-dozen groups performing at the festival proper this weekend — plus all of the other acts slated for club shows — five were grown right here in the desert, including Be Like Max, Rayner, the Negative Nancys, the Damnit Jims, and Franks and Deans. To his credit, festival co-founder Mark Stern, who still handles all of the booking himself, couldn’t have picked a better batch of bands to represent the event locally, particularly Fine’s band, which truly embodies the do-it-yourself spirit that the festival was founded on in the first place.

From the sound of it, the members of Be Like Max have the same sort of tenacity and conviction as Stern and his brother Shawn, who, in addition to putting together Punk Rock Bowling every year, originally made their mark with their band Youth Brigade and BYO Records, their own independent imprint, which released albums by their group and other acts like 7 Seconds and Pinhead Circus. Over the past three decades, the Stern brothers have been a big part of the Southern California scene by doing a lot of the heavy lifting themselves.

Like the Sterns, Fine and his crew have mostly relied on themselves to get their music, a sharp blend of ska punk, out to the masses. In addition to the fans it has made here in Vegas, the outfit has built up a healthy fan base in other parts of the country, in places like Denver, my hometown, and it’s done so without the help of an agent. That’s no small feat, especially when you consider how often the band is on the road. Right now, Be Like Max is preparing to head out again in July to play 46 dates over the course of six weeks. That’s a lot of shows in a short amount of time.

According to Fine, booking the band’s tours has meant more than just sending an email or simply picking up a phone. It’s about cultivating real-life relationships with like-minded acts. To that end, Fine says he and his bandmates have made it a practice to bring bands in from out of town to share bills with Be Like Max, allowing those acts to start building an audience here, hoping at some point they’d return the favor.

“I researched bands that I thought were doing something in their cities, and I would invite them out to Vegas, and I would put on a killer show for them,” Fine says. “And that’s where I where I would start my relationship with them, and I feel like that really worked out because a lot of those bands — not all of them; you know, it was kind of 50/50 — but a lot of those bands would return the favor and still do. And we built long relationships with them to where we can get quality shows, and we’ve actually seen those shows grow. So it’s less discouraging when we go out to a city and see more people there the next time.

“We still do that. Every show we have that’s local, we try to bring out touring bands and give them a good quality show and make them feel like … not like they have to return the favor, but to make them want to return the favor, because they’re in it for the same reasons we are. It’s helped out a lot.”

Fine and company have put that same amount of effort into building the scene here in the valley, where they make a concerted effort to ensure that their shows are accessible to all fans, regardless of age. That’s meant the act has passed on some pretty cool opportunities. At the same time, there are plenty of other outfits in town that are of the same mindset, so finding other bands to play hasn’t been a problem.

“I love our scene,” Fine says. “There are a ton of Vegas bands. Whenever we put together a show, there are never a shortage of bands, and everybody’s on the same wavelength. There’s no competitive feel. Everybody is out for the same movement, and there are a lot of great bands out here.”

And there is strength in numbers. Like the Be Like Max guys, you don’t have to look long in Las Vegas to find like-minded scene builders like Fine and company, and they come from all facets of the scene, whether they’re making music, recording the music, putting on shows, making sure that folks know how much the art matters or simply making sure as many people as possible get a chance to hear it. To have a strong scene, everybody has to do their part, and clearly that’s continuing to happen here.

Take Steven Matview at Punks in Vegas and Allen Carter at SquidHat Records, for instance: This week, the guys have partnered up to produce a compilation featuring two songs from each of the five Las Vegas bands performing at Punk Rock Bowling this year (including a pair of previously unreleased tracks from the Damnit Jims) that you can download for free on Bandcamp.

“Those dudes help out a lot, as far as local music,” Fine declares. “I just think there’s a general consensus, where nobody’s really looking after themselves; everyone’s kind of looking out for each other. We all care about our local scene and not just one band making it, because that’s not how it works. We all just realize that. We’re all riding this wave together, and the more we support each other and work with each other, the bigger and better things get. I think it’s proven at this point.”

Catch Be Like Max and the other Vegas bands all weekend, starting with Franks and Deans on Thursday at Las Vegas Country Saloon. The Damnit Jims play the main stage at 3:30 p.m. Saturday; the Negative Nancys and Be Like Max perform back-to-back sets on the main stage at 3:30 p.m. Sunday; and Rayner is slated to be the first main stage act at 2:35 p.m. Monday. (The full festival lineup, including the club shows, can be found at punkrockbowling.com.)

Viva Live Vegas appears on Wednesdays. Contact Dave Herrera at dherrera@reviewjournal.com and follow @rjmusicdh on Twitter.