High school hasn’t changed much in 10 years. Sure, long hair, tight Levi’s and jean jackets aren’t exactly fashionable anymore, but the experience remains essentially the same. There are still the kids who devote their lives to sports, the kids who spend their Friday nights studying, and the kids who set their watch alarms to go off at 4:20 p.m. every day. And then, there are guys such as the Manhattan, Kan. power-pop trio Ultimate Fakebook. “We were all kind of like the rock `n’ roll guys; the guys that were in bands, that were only interested in that, pretty much,” said Bill McShane, Ultimate Fakebook vocalist/guitarist. Growing up together in Beloit, Kan., McShane and third cousin Nick Colby didn’t have difficulty finding peers who shared their love of rock `n’ roll and feelings of disgust toward the town. “One of the things I always think about as the best [high school] memory was just hanging out with our friends because we were kind of anti-our school and anti-everybody,” McShane said. “We hated the town so much that we just bonded on that sort of thing.” But McShane and Colby needed something more. “It was the kind of a situation where we couldn’t wait to get out,” McShane said. The idea of being in a rock `n’ roll band appealed to them, just as it has appealed to teenagers before and after them, offering an escape, a way out. “In rock `n’ roll, there’s not really any rules – you just pick up the instrument and give it a shot and go with it,” McShane said. And that is exactly what McShane and bassist Colby did about 10 years ago. But it took a little prompting from some hair-metal rock gods to get McShane to envision a rock star future. “Being a kid and watching Dokken videos on MTV made me want to go pick up the guitar,” McShane said. “I always loved music, but I was like, `I’ve gotta do this – I’ve gotta get up on stage and rock out and play guitar in front of people, it looks like so much fun.'” After playing together in high school bands, McShane and Colby moved to Manhattan, Kan. in 1994, forming an early incarnation of Ultimate Fakebook. Rock music had changed by then – Dokken and Whitesnake had given way to Soundgarden and Sonic Youth – along with McShane’s musical tastes. The four-piece, grunge-influenced Ultimate Fakebook soon became a three-piece following the departure of the lead singer and drummer. The new UFB played music with a totally different, poppier sound, drawing on bands such as Cheap Trick, Guided by Voices and the Replacements. “The style that we’re doing now kind of came about when I started singing and playing guitar at the same time,” McShane said. “It wasn’t really until I got out of high school that I got into the other stuff, getting into the pop roots I had had as a kid.” However, high school still manages to work its way into Ultimate Fakebook’s music, especially on their latest record, “This Will be Laughing Week.” “It wasn’t really something we had planned out ahead of time,” McShane said. “We had all these songs, that once we sat back and looked at them, we were like, `Wow, there’s references to school here and there in a lot of the songs or imagery and things that will take you back to high school.'” The album’s artwork, design and liner notes are all high-school themed, featuring typical yearbook entries and pictures of the band members in wrestling gear. “This Will be Laughing Week” was originally released in 1999 on indie label Noisome Records. UFB played over 140 shows last year, including some opening dates for Cheap Trick, an experience that thrilled the band. The end of the year found UFB touring with emo-popsters the Get Up Kids, playing packed shows to enthusiastic crowds. “The Get Up Kids tour was amazing – it was the best thing we had ever done,” McShane said. “Every single night was just absolutely sold-out.” Besides expanding the band’s audience, the tour offered UFB an opportunity it couldn’t pass up – the chance to sign with a major label. “It was a pretty amazing opportunity to have the chance to put your record out nationwide and get on the radio and all those things that rock `n’ roll bands like to do,” McShane said. “We jumped at the chance.” Signing with 550 Music/Epic Records, UFB re-released “This Will be Laughing Week” with two additional re-recorded tracks from the band’s first album, “Electric Kissing Parties.” UFB is touring again in support of the record, taking their version of the rock show on the road. “We play like it’s the last show ever,” McShane said. “We definitely get into the rock show, the old-school rock show.” And that even includes high leg kicks and rock star posing. “We mean every single one of them – none of them are fake,” McShane said. “They’re a little tongue-in-cheek, sometimes you’ll see a little smile on our faces.” Even though UFB is on a major label and they are receiving radio play, the band hasn’t forgotten their high school music roots. “We’ve definitely kept that attitude of just having fun,” McShane said, “even though our musical tastes have changed since then.”