Letters to the editor are welcomed and will be published as space allows. Letters must be signed, although the staff may withhold the name upon request if deemed necessary. The paper reserves the right to edit letters for grammar and clarity, and all letters are subject to laws governing obscenity, libel, privacy and disruption of the school process, as are all contents of the paper.

Opinions in letters are not necessarily those of the staff, nor should any opinion expressed in a public forum be construed as the opinion or policy of the administration, unless so attributed.

Band of the month: Anniversary

By: Ryan Emmett
Staff Writer

The band, The Anniversary, was previously known as The Broadcast and has been around since the winter of 1996, but because they realized there was already a British band under that name they changed it to The Anniversary in 1997.

The Anniversary consists of Justin and Josh on guitar and vocals, Jim on bass, Janko on drums, and Adrianne on keyboard and vocals.

Fan site, www.anniversaryaccess.com, explains that after extensive touring in 1998, Robbie Pope and Matt Pryor of The Get up Kids offered The Anniversary the chance to release a full-length album. The band took the chance and signed to Heroes & Villains, a Vagrant Records sub-label set up by The Get Up Kids. In November 1999 they released two songs on a split with The Get up Kids. In November 1999 they released two songs on a split with The Get Up Kids, and released their debut full-length album Designing a Nervous Breakdown in January 2000.

They have done a split with Hot Rod Circuit, been on several complications, and are releasing a second full-length on January 15th, 2002 titled Your Majesty.

Between much touring and as much recording as they can muster, The Anniversary has come a long way since their beginnings in Kansas only fiver years ago.

The Anniversary's musical style does not nearly fit into any single category. THey fuse emo, indie rock, punk, synth-pop, new wave, and folk. But The Anniversary never label themselves as any of these and try to advertise themselves simply as "rock". Songs vary from upbeat Moog Synthesizer driven fun, to more emotional tales from the bands hearts and lives. THe elements that make up their distinctive sound are fantastic male and female harmonization, and of course the glorious Moog Synthesizer.

THe Anniversary puts on an excellent live show, whether you can get into their CD recording or not. THe first time I saw them was on the summer Vagrant Records tour. A couple people who came with me thought they were decent, but not great. After their live show they now love The Anniversary. In fact, the band was more energetic than headliner, Saves the Day.

Recently I attended a second Anniversary concert and once against they were phenomenal. I was particularly fond of the giant flowers they had placed on each end of the stage that shot out bubbles. Those things were just plain cool.

With their eclectic mix of styles and unique sound, The Anniversary should definitely be looked into. For more information browse on over to www.anniversaryaccess.com, www.anniversaryrock.com, or check them out on www.vagrant.com.