Green Day has been called a poser band. Avril Lavigne’s been called a poser. But Ames band F-Words doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not.

“We’re punk nerds who dress up in suits and skateboard,” Gerald Morris says.

“We try to do something different. No one else is wearing suits on stage. And once they do, we’ll have to find something else.”

Morris, junior in computer science, and Scott Little, drummer and junior in chemical engineering, are the founding members of F-Words.

Little says the suits the band members wear make it easier to recognize them, helping them stand out in a music scene dominated by angry punk rock bands.

“We’re punk, but not pouty,” Little says. “Trying to change the world is cool when you’re 15, but not now.”

Especially with the elections approaching, Little says he believes many local and national bands are preaching their messages between songs and turning off a lot of their audience.

He says it’s more fitting for musicians to fuse their messages into their music.

“If you want to put politics or your particular message in your music, go for it,” Little says. “That’s the appropriate place.”

As for its own sound, Morris says F-words is more concerned with having a good time than getting a serious message out.

“We try to write music that people can actually dance to, not just slam dance to,” Morris says. “We want you to be able to shake your booty.”

Morris says he believes many “punk” bands in Ames scream at their audiences about topics like socio-economic issues and politics. F-words tries to keep it light.

“A lot of our songs are about women and how kick-ass I am,” Morris says.

Described as self-absorbed by band mates, Morris, who also writes the majority of the songs, accepts and embraces this description.

“It’s not that I think I’m so wonderful,” he says. “You just have to be comfortable with who you are.”

Morris says being comfortable is as important on stage as it is in real life. To prepare for each performance, they tell themselves the audience already loves them. It’s all about the attitude.

“I tell him to look out there at the crowd and know that they love you,” Morris says. “But I hate them for loving me and they love me for hating them.”

For F-words, it’s too easy to get caught up in the performance and forget about the music and the fun if there is not a balance in the beginning.

“[Morris] has to tell me not to fuck up before each performance,” Little says.

“If I’m too uptight, it’s because I’m focused on the people looking at me, then I get distracted and screw up. If I am too relaxed because I’m too comfortable, I get sloppy and mess up. There’s got to be a balance.”

Random ramblings with Gerald Morris

1. How do you feel about Elton John?

I don’t really care for him, but I think it’s funny how every artist from Britain gets knighted.

2. How do you feel about power ballads in rock bands?

We don’t play them. There’s no foreplay in our shows.

3. Have you ever been excited at a Christian concert?

Everyone was ridden with guilt, then I felt bad, and I didn’t even do anything.

4. How do you feel about bands merchandising?

If people like us, they’ll make their own T-shirts.

5. Why did you pick your major?

I can’t think of anything else to do.

Who: F-Words (joint show, fund-raiser sponsored by the Skateboarding Club)

Where: Bali Satay, 2424 Lincoln Way

When: 9 p.m. Oct. 30

Cost: $5