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On the cover of this week’s Washington City Paper is The Max Levine Ensemble—a local pop-punk trio who, for the past 15 years, have helped shaped D.C.’s DIY punk scene. For those who’ve never heard The Max Levine Ensemble before (fear not! Here’s a handy playlist to get you familiar!), the key to understanding them is to look at their music videos. As I wrote in my profile, “there’s a common theme in these videos: There’s a party, it’s the best one you’ve ever seen, and everyone they’ve ever met is invited. It’s this kind of inclusive positivity that’s kept its members going all these years, and why they’re beloved by so many.”
But it’s always better to show than to tell, so below we’ve put together this timeline of music videos that the members of The Max Levine Ensemble—David Combs, Ben Epstein, and Nick Popovici—have been involved in, whether they’re videos for their own band, for Combs’ recently retired solo project Spoonboy, or their friends’ bands, like New York’s Worriers, West Chester, Pa.’s Spraynard, or Olympia, Wa.’s RVIVR. Since high school, members of the band have made 20 videos, and you can see the evolution of them below.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery