During a Maxies set, dancing while clubbing takes an entirely different, more literal meaning.
As singer Maximum Maxie asks fans if they want to go clubbing, a man dressed in a polar bear costume jumps into the crowd.
“Let’s go clubbing,” Maximum says. “Let’s go club some seals.”
And the performance doesn’t get any less offensive from there. Everything from “The Clap”—as in the STD—and global warming are joked about by the masked men in red-and-white suits who claim to hail from Greenland (but really they’re from various parts of Southern California. Don’t tell them we told you.)
The group will bring its insulting and humorous music to Long Beach’s Black Light District next month.
Maximum said the group, still claiming to be from Greenland, was originally an interpretive dance and singing group called Ice, Ice, Baby that formed in Nuuk.
“We were known as the Danish Backstreet Boys,” he said. “We were doing our versions of Greenlandic R&B. It was the early ’90s, and we were just trying to be versatile and claw our way into the Greenland and Danish music scene. Our version of All 4 One’s ‘I swear’ shot up the Euro and Greenland charts hitting number one in Greenland and Denmark, number two in Ukraine and Slovakia and number 6 in Estonia. After a long hiatus, Mad Maxie and myself decided to take over the world and reform, but this time playing our grown up love of pop punk and power pop.”
In 2006, he said, the band changed its name to The Maxies with the intentions of being a “sex symbol band.”
“I think we’ve achieved that musically as well as physically,” he said. “Are we comical? Weird Al did ask us to record one of our tunes. We turned him down because we felt he would ruin the integrity of the song. Coolio was a consultant on the negotiations and as per his advise we declined. Sorry Al, go destroy another band’s from-the-heart-written song.”
Of course, with the achievement of becoming a “sex symbol band,” Maximum said he knew they risked having female-dominated audiences. That’s where the masks came in, he said.
At every Maxies show, each of the six members faces are covered in white or silver masks to hide their good looks, as Maximum put it. But because of the masks and foul humor, some have called them the Anti-Aquabats.
“The masks cover up some of our natural beauty. Now we have co-ed shows,” Maximum said. “From what I hear, that band The Aquabats has a kids TV show. If we are anti-them it would be because American TV would be too afraid to have a show about six sexy men who like clubbing seals, drinking and playing the pop punk. Maybe HBO would take us. I believe you can use the F words on the station. Plus Chris Lilley has shows on that network so PC is out the door with that station.”
And that polar bear brought up earlier? He’s not so innocent, either. Named Tom the Bipolar Bear, the creature is the Maxie’s beloved drunken mascot.
“He gets all the love,” Maximum said. “But, yeah, people tend to get violent or far too sexy with him in the pit. Remember, Polar Bears have feelings, too, kids. Also, remember you make more friends with seal meat and whiskey than with being a macho man in the pit.”
But the real trouble starts only when “people take themselves too seriously and can’t have fun,” Maximum said.
“Are we controversial? I guess,” he said. “I think we are dumb and fun. Is what we do childish? Yeah, probably, but the best times of most people’s lives happened when they were kids. We are grown up kids with foul mouths and catchy love songs. Like it or go smoke when we play at the show. But, please, by all means stop taking it all so friggin’ seriously. Start acting like kids and not babies.”
While Greenland holds a special place in the Maxies’ hearts, Maximum said they truly enjoy playing in Long Beach, and they are looking forward to playing with the other bands listed on the bill.
“Long Beach is an awesome diverse city,” he said. “We always have fun when we play there. Mostly, we are excited to play with our friends’ bands because we like drinking with them and we love that their performances will make our performance look all that much better.”
The Maxies will perform at Black Light District, located at 2500 East Anaheim Street, on February 9. Tickets are $8, and the show, headlined by ska band The Toasters, is only open to those 21 years and older.
For more information about the Maxies and to hear some of their music, click here.