Everyone’s favorite geek-rock act is coming to town again. No, not that one that’s recently taken to playing in front of a huge W and bootlegging its own albums on the Internet. Ultimate Fakebook is back to rock the Maintenance Shop on Friday at 9 p.m.

The Kansas boys have played in and around Ames so much that you’d swear they were local heroes. Lead singer and guitarist Bill McShane explains the special relationship his band has with this town.

“We love the Maintenance Shop in particular,” he says. “It’s a really fun place to play. It’s great because they’ve got the hotel there so we always end up having great parties there. We love going there and rocking out. It’s always a fun time.”

The indie-rockers had a particularly enjoyable experience the last occasion they played in Ames, sharing the Veishea stage last spring with Minneapolis grunge icons Soul Asylum.

“That was really cool because it was obviously a really huge crowd,” McShane says. “It was a thrill for us because we’re big Soul Asylum fans.”

The pairing wasn’t strange at all, even given that Soul Asylum’s sound is more folk-rock than arena-pop, he says.

“We kind of go with about anybody,” McShane says. “We’ve done all different kinds of shows and genres. We kind of just fall in the cracks.”

The enthusiasm and energy levels in the two acts were slightly skewed, a fact McShane definitely notices.

“It’s weird, because they used to be real high-energy, you know? Like when they first started off and stuff,” he says.

UFB has played shows with a great variety of acts through the years, McShane says.

Speaking of strange tour-mates, McShane said he’s particularly interested to hear from the offshoot of the fiery Texas punk band that spent the summer supporting the Weez.

“I need to hear the Sparta record all the way through. Is it out yet? What I’ve heard is pretty . cool. I noticed that Weezer’s really had a sort of variety of bands open for them,” he says.

McShane makes it known that, should the call ever come in, the members of UFB would jump at the chance to share a stage with their geek-rock compatriots, Weezer.

“Oh totally – I mean talk about the fan bases matching up. I mean, it’d match up perfect,” he noted. “Pretty much all our fans are Weezer fans. And lots of Weezer fans are UFB fans. That’s something we’d totally love to do someday.”

It seems that UFB would play with practically anyone; even ’80s hair-metal band Poison, whom UFB’s most recent album title “Open Up and Say Awesome” mocks.

“We would play with Poison, yes. It would be quite humorous to us, therefore we’d do it,” notes McShane.

It seems UFB has no qualms sharing a bill with hair-metal heroes. McShane said the band recently missed an opportunity to play with some of the biggest names from back in the day.

“We were booked a show with us, Ratt, Dokken, Warrant, Firehouse and LA Guns,” he says. “We had to drive to Illinois to play this show, but the day of the show, they all canceled.”

Even though the band has graced many a stage in this town, McShane says there is still reason for folks to come out to see them yet again.

“It’s actually going to be the second show with the new band because we actually have a new member in the band,” he says.

J.D. Warnock, of the Creature Comforts, will be meeting up with Ultimate Fakebook, helping out with guitar and vocals.

“The Creature Comforts are sort of going to be taking a break for a while,” McShane said. “So we took the opportunity to snatch him up and have him join our band. He’s . awesome. He’s a really good guitar player and a great singer. He’s like a lead singer in his own right.”

Warnock will also be heading up the band Soccer Mom, opening the festivities Friday along with Kansas City band The People.

“He’s going to be doing double duty,” jokes McShane.

McShane says Friday’s show will be a bit of a new experience, but everyone’s favorite UFB standards will not be lost. Rest assured, the “rock box,” a mini-riser McShane uses to perform his arena-style solos, will make the trip.

“We are going to bring the rock box,” he says. “The full stadium show will be in effect.”