Wait Just One Minute--This Is a <i> Punk </i> Band? : Pop music: The hard-core group, which plays at Irvine Meadows on Monday as part of the daylong Warped Tour, tries to look on the bright side.

CIV is a top-flight, hard-core band with a throbbing rhythm section, blazingly aggressive guitar and vocal work and just enough memorable hooks to make it all palatable to a mass audience. The group--singer Anthony (Civ) Civarreli, guitarist Charlie Garriga, bassman Arthur Smilios and drummer Sammy Siegler--performs at Irvine Meadows on Monday as part of a multi-band extravaganza called the Warped Tour.

The video for “Wait Just One Minute” from CIV’s debut album, “Set Your Goals” (Lava Records), is being featured in MTV’s Buzz Bin, placing the band in the thick of the current punk nouveau sweepstakes.

CIV is from New York City, which, along with London and Los Angeles, was one of the top breeding grounds for the original punk scene back in the ‘70s. Garriga says punk and hard core are thriving in the Apple once again.

“It’s pretty cool right now, actually. There’s a lot of new bands coming out with people who have been playing in different hard-core bands over the last five years or so, bands like Quicksand and Orange 9mm [both also on the Warped Tour] who play their own interpretations of heavy, aggressive music.

“I don’t know if it’s hard core in the sense that we tend to think about the older New York City hard-core bands like Agnostic Front or Cro-Magnon, but there’s a lot of really, really cool bands happening, and there’s a lot more local shows and clubs doing hard-core music.”

But the increasing popularity of the music has brought changes, and Garriga fears punk’s essential unity may suffer.

“It used to be that you’d go to small clubs and get to know everybody in the scene,” he said. “Now you have to deal with more mainstream-type people getting involved, seeing bands in bigger clubs with bigger ticket prices attached, and it doesn’t feel as special. We’re hoping the bands won’t lose their integrity.”

CIV should stand out from the pack if only for its distinctive take on the punk ethos. Unlike many hard-core bands, old and new, CIV eschews the standard “no future” pose, opting instead for a positive take on problems facing the young. Rather than taking blind shots at society, such songs as “Set Your Goals,” “United Kids” and “Solid Bond” espouse a message of love, friendship, unity and personal responsibility.

“Our lyrics are mostly positive, keep-your-chin-up kind of stuff,” said Garriga, 24. “A lot of bands say [this is awful] but don’t provide any answers. We take the experiences in life that we’ve gone through, that anybody can relate to, and kind of give a bright side to them. We tell people to stick it out.”

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THE WARPED TOUR

Main Stage:

* 12:45-1:15: Orange 9mm

* 1:30-2:05: Fluf

* 2:30-3:00: No Use for a Name

* 3:15-4:00: No Doubt

* 4:15-5:00: Sublime

* 5:15-6:00: L7

* 6:15-7:00: Quicksand

Side Stage:

* 12:30-1:00: Wizo

* 1:15-1:45: Your Mom

* 2:00-2:30: the Ziggens

* 2:45-3:15: Deftones

* 3:30-4:00: Good Riddance

* 4:15-4:45: CIV

* 5:00-5:40: Sick of It All

* 5:55-6:40: Lagwagon

The Warped Tour comes to the Concession Circle of the Irvine Meadows Concourse, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, in Irvine, on Monday. Featured along with the bands will be skate ramps, street courses, a giant climbing wall and more than a dozen professional “Extreme” athletes including skate celebs Remy Stratton, Steve Alba, Mike Frazier, Neil Hendrix and Jaya Bonderov, champion in-line skaters Angie Walton, Tom Fry, Rene Hulgreen and Arlo Eisenberg and pro BMX rider Keith Traynor. Tickets: $16 advance, $17 at the door. (714) 740-2000 (Ticketmaster).