TAHOE CITY, Calif. – Thomas Wolfe never knew about Cali skate punk rock.

The band 3upFront proves you can come home again when it performs Saturday at Tahoe City’s Hacienda del Lago.

Inspired by Black Flag, NOFX and the Sex Pistols, a quartet of North Tahoe High School students started the band in 1998 at drummer Jesse Wilkerson’s house. Adam Pierce sings, Josh Fisher plays bass and David Montanari plays guitar.

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“We have solo lead breaks on guitar and fancy drum work,” Montanari said. “It’s the best of both worlds. You get the melody with the funk as well.

“We grew up as skaters in Tahoe. … We played house parties and got to a point were we figured we had gotten as big as we could get in Tahoe. It was time to start conquering new territory.”

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With stage names Mr. Pierce, D$$, the Fish and J. Dub, the band moved to Santa Cruz, a good, central location for a California band. 3upFront has played 2,500 shows and is finishing up the production of its fourth album. It continues to represent organic music in an era of pernicious techno.

“We are the live antidote to see instrumentalists playing on stage while energetically moving across the stage to put on a good show,” Montanari said. “We are the type of band who has never been seen just standing still on the stage. We are very energetic and have always had what has been described as an explosive stage performance.

“We try to keep in the minds of people that their is still live music going on. It’s something we take pride in going solid for 14 years.”