Band of Brothers: Kung Fu Juice Box Keeps It in the Family

Punk is in the blood of brothers Lars and Maximus Messmer.

“It was my parents’ fault for blessing us with this wonderful music taste,” says eighteen-year-old Lars. “Max being born into this family, he acquired that taste. It was forced on him at birth.”

“I wouldn’t necessarily say it was forced,” thirteen-year-old Maximus responds.

The Longmont siblings grew up listening to the likes of Green Day and Alkaline Trio, so it only felt right to start a band once both were of adequate age.

“My first guitar was a red Epiphone Les Paul Junior,” Lars recalls. “It was a piece of shit, but I loved it and would beat the shit out of it playing it all the time.”

“And I’ve been wanting to play drums since I heard ‘My First Punk Song,’” Maximus adds, referring to the Box Car Racer rager.  “One Christmas I got a drum set, and we immediately just started playing. We played for hours every day.”

While it wasn’t until this past year that the Messmers put a proper tag on the fraternal fracas, Kung Fu Juice Box was a long time in the making.

“I think it started thirteen years ago when he was born,” Lars quips. “No, we played around with different songs, but we never really wrote songs until last summer.”

The two hit the stage for the first time in December during a gig at Moe’s Original BBQ, the same day their debut single “High Expectations” dropped, and proved that punk-rock is a young guns game, blasting through a set of all originals, amongst a rowdy crowd filled with family and friends.

“I couldn’t hold onto my picks because my hands were literally wet, like I dipped them in water before. My hand was cramping, I was like, ‘What the fuck?’” Lars recalls.

“Was it your right hand?” Maximus checks, confirming his brother’s condition. “Dude, that literally happened to me, too. My hands were getting sweaty.”

The jitters dissipated soon enough, and Kung Fu Juice Box is ready for its sophomore show at Two Moons Music Hall on Thursday, February 5. Spit Shine and Kyle Cervantes Band are also on the local Battle of the Bands bill, which features 45 minutes from each act. In preparation, the brothers released a second single, “Insecure,” last week. And there’s more to come, but the best way to check out Kung Fu is live.

“Eighty percent of it is how loud, fast and hard can you play? Then the other 20 percent is how much can you engage the audience,” says Lars, who also plays bass in Mead emo group No Reason To Care. “It’s just not meant to be perfect, and nobody’s perfect. There’s this poetic aspect of punk rock, in that sense. It’s perfectly imperfect.”

Three-chord punk in tow, these kids are all right, and neither Lars nor Maximus would rather play with anyone else.

“It’s my favorite thing. It’s all I want to do. It’s kind of a problem, actually, because I got no motivation for anything else except for playing in this freakin’ band. It’s a lot of fun,” admits Lars, a double English and journalism major at the University of Denver.

“I couldn’t have picked out another drummer,” he says of his brother. “I would take him over Tré Cool any day, honestly. He laps every other drummer I’ve met, but maybe I’m a little bit biased. There’s something about the way he plays and how special he is on stage. You’re only thirteen, and you’re insane at the drums.”

Maximus returns the love: “I wouldn’t pick a different guitarist. We just have a crazy connection.”

“It’s almost like there’s a genetic connection between us,” Lars responds.

“Yeah, like we’re related by blood or something,” Maximus concludes.  

Kung Fu Juice Box, with Spit Shine and Kyle Cervantes Band, 7 p.m. Thursday, February 5, Two Moons Music Hall, 2944 Larimer Street Tickets are $12.