In a sea of rock bands, what makes Mest so damn great? Its their fans. Mest is the prime example of a band who has pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps and built a fanatical following the old-fashioned way, by word-of-mouth. And now, the band is set to expand that following even further when this June they release Mest, their third full-length album for Maverick Records.

Formed in the late 1990s in the blue-collar, working-class South Side of Chicago, Mest has toured their asses off and, slowly but surely, have built a substantial grassroots fanbase. Their hardcore work ethic had them on the road non-stop for nearly two years in support of 2001s Destination Unknown. Night after night, Mest won over fans by crisscrossing America and tearing up stages with such bands as Blink-182, Good Charlotte, the Used, MXPX, Unwritten Law, Sugarcult, the Movielife, Goldfinger, and H2O, among others.

The triumphant capper to those tours came in the fall of 2002 when the bandsinger/guitarist Tony Lovato, drummer Nick Gigler, bassist Matt Lovato (Tonys cousin) and guitarist/singer Jeremiah Rangelheadlined a two-month tour, selling out 1,000+ capacity venues across the country. Mests live shows are the reason that Destination Unknown sold in excess of 100,000 copies in the U.S. and 150,000 copies in Japan (where the album was certified Gold). Says Matt Lovato about touring Japan, "We had fans and paparazzi camping out in the lobby of our hotelit was crazy." Back in America, Mests touring success has landed them a Mainstage slot on the entire 2003 Warped Tour. In fact, Mests performances have become so popular that a concert DVD, documenting Mests ferocious live show, was released this Spring as part of Kung Fu Records well-respected punk rock DVD series, which includes DVDs from Rancid, Alkaline Trio and Guttermouth.

As on their previous records, Mest chose to work once again with producer John Feldmann (The Used, Good Charlotte). However, Mest feel that the new album is steps beyond their previous efforts, Destination Unknown and 2000s Wasting Time.

"Musically, its our most mature record," says Tony. "Going into it, we wanted to make sure that 20 years from now, when were 40-years-old, its something we can be proud of. No matter what the fans are going to think, whats punk, whats notwe wanted to make a fucking amazing record that will last."

And it will. The new album has blasts of punk rock attitude, introspective soul-searching and sublime hooks, making it a showcase for a band that has hit its stride. The records first single, "Jaded," starts tender, with some acoustic guitar before opening the floodgates to a monster chorus. Good Charottes Benji Madden guests on the song and appears in the raucous video, which was directed by Steven Murashige (Rage Against The Machine, Incubus and the Ataris).

Throughout the new album, the guitars are bone-crunching and Gigler hits the drums like a prizefighter. But, softer touches of acoustic guitar, sequenced keyboards, strings, and the occasional drum machine, lend a pop flavor and explore new ground for the band. "Theres an orchestra on two songs. Theres percussion on one song, where everybodys banging on pots and pansjust weird shit like that," says Tony.

Mest is a full-fledged songwriting machine, unafraid to challenge the genres limitations, and the new album shows it. Check out the reggae-ish "Burning Bridges," which recalls the Clashs ability to mix clean guitars with a rave-up of a chorus. Or the piano melodies that bookend the torrential "Your Promise." Other evidence that the foursome have been honing their chops: "Rooftops" opens with some snaking guitar arpeggios that could have been on the Cures Disintegration, before stomping on the distortion pedal. Theres the varying textures of acoustic guitar, power chords and a soaring chorus on "Walking on Broken Glass" and then theres the straight up ballad "Chance of Lifetime," which should be the prom theme at a punk-rock alternate universe. This is not your run-of-the-mill pop-punk album.

"These songs that are a bit different than what we have recorded in the past," says Tony. "This album has fewer songs about relationshipsbecause I wasnt going through any relationship problems at the time and I dont think Jeremiah was either. Most of the songs reflect the last two years of our lives. We were away from home on tour for a long time, and its weird how, when you return home, you dont recognize people, and some people are married or gone or pregnant or fat orwhatever. You come home and theres so much different shit going on. Many of the songs are about remembering back a few years when we were 15, 16-years-old and wanting to be in a band and wanting to get away from home. But, now that we have done all that, some of the songs are about growing up and slowly becoming a, uh, manis that what you call it?a young adult."

With the new album under their belts, Mest is eager to get back on the road. "Recording is great, but what we are really looking forward to is touring again," says Tony, "thats what we are about. We are a live band and we cant wait to play the Warped Tour. There are so many bands on this years tour that we love, especially Rancid." In fact Tim Armstrong from Rancid recently called Tony just to tell him how much he loved Mests new album. "Thats a huge deal, because hes in a band I grew up on," says Tony. "When you win the respect of bands that you admire, thats when you really begin to feel like you accomplished something