Make believe.

FOR MOST life-long musicians, the maturation process tends to eventually bring a sense of calmness as further ventures down the sonic highway show up in the rear-view mirror of accomplishments. As the years go by the punk rock roots that many folks once displayed proudly are often cast aside in an effort to conform to whatever "age-appropriate" attitude and sound seems to fit

IN THE CASE of Chicago's Make Believe, however, artistic evolution is something that is unabashedly critiqued courtesy of the echoes of angular, distorted guitars, rollicking rhythms and frantic vocals, which all coalesce to shoot a jolt in the direction of the traditional punk rock mindset ... which seems largely absent among the likes of today's more mainstream sided take on this formerly underground movement.

So, why did these Midwesterners decide to buck the trends and go with their "back to the roots" approach? According to Make Believe's vocalist Tim Kinsella--a punk/ indie-rock legend in his own right based on his work with Cap'n Jazz and Joan of Arc--his new outfit was just a natural Outgrowth of the collective interests of he and the rest of the members: drummer Nate Kinsella, bassist Bobby Burg and guitarist Sam Zurick.

"Our sound is very intuitive," Kinsella confidently states--Shock of Being, his group's brand new Flameshovel Records album, being a prime example for this claim "We started by evolving out of a line-up that did a Joan of Arc tour for about three months and through that tour the Joan of Arc songs were getting louder by the day. By the end of the tour we were basically playing loud-rock versions of all those songs."

While Make Believe's musical course seems to have been organic, many might" wonder what actually prompted such a drastic change in dynamics. Kinsella, though, doesn't see the shift in such a firm context.

"In my mind, doing this band is an exercise to see what it was like to return to the 'formal' way of making music," Kinsella chuckles. "There was never any conscious decision to get away from [the Joan of Arc sound] but it's kind of the same reason people don't freak out about the state of the environment or the Bush administration's policies: because a little bit of change one day at a time makes it harder to realize. At some point we just realized, 'Hey, we haven't practiced for three years; we just record and edit.' The difference between Make Believe and our other bands is just us going back to our approach from years back, when we were taking for granted that we were a punk band."

Ironically, during a time when many so-called punk bands have long since thrown out the once-heralded ethics of the movement, Make Believe's penchant for primal emotional and political outlets has remained firmly entrenched in the chemistry of the band. As Kinsella openly reflects, "Punk seemed like a realistic threat when I was younger and it was more of a means of production as opposed to a Certain kind of sound. It's been over 10 years since punk has been 90-opted as mall culture, so I don't think it's particularly interesting to say something like 'Punk is Dead'--because I've assumed that for years, at least in terms of the mainstream's definition."

Mellow-voiced bassist Burg echoes Kinsella's sentiments when it comes the tenor of their troupe, which seems to help the band stay focused during the writing process. "It's accidental in the way that all of our tastes have come together," Burg offers. "Sam won't be happy with it unless he hears one thing and Nate won't be happy with it unless he hears something else. It's basically an outgrowth of all of our interests."

Along with Make Believe's commitment to creating a challenging sound that bends, bellows and blasts its way in seemingly every direction, Burg is also proud to share the band's collective love for skating. While due to time constraints the others aren't. able to shred as much as they used to, Burg always makes it a point to keep a board in-hand at all times.

"I got into music through skateboard videos," Burg excitedly dates. "I found out a lot about the music I've become interested in through the skating scene initially. I kind of fell out of touch with skating while I was ' in school, but I moved to New York for a while and it was so apparent that it was easy to fall back into skating. They had this really cool bowl out in Brooklyn--I learned how to skate pools there: That's what you can do when you're an oldie! I tend to skate the bigger stuff. I like to carve the bowls."

While some may accuse these fellows of merely headed for a quick jaunt down nostalgia lane, the feverish, frenzied passion Make Believe exudes in both its unique playing style and in the way its members live their lives is proof that sincerity is worth buckets more than conformity in terms of a true music lover's eyes.

Here's to breaking the mold and defying conventions ... here's to Make Believe.