The Anniversary.

IF THEIR VAN IS ANY INDICATION, THE MEMBERS OF THE ANNIVERSARY, WHOSE DESIGNING A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN was on our must-have list last year, are headed in the right direction with their about-to-be-released Your Majesty. Their story has been retold a bunch of times, so we'll be quick: They're from Lawrence, KS, got hooked up to Vagrant Records/Heroes & Villains by their friends and one-time housemates The Get Up Kids, and sound like a combo of the driving indie/emo rock of The Get Up Kids with the layered, synth sound of Stereolab. And they have a swanky, pimp-ass conversion van. While most bands dump their gear into an Econoline to head out on the road, The Anniversary--Josh Berwanger, Justin Roelofs, Adrianne Verhoeven, James David, and Chris Jankowsi--ride in style with captains' chairs, video monitor, and Playstation. They're high profile these days, which makes their easy-going disposition that much more engaging.

Over the past couple of years there have been loads of bands from the Midwest. What the fuck is going on there?

Josh: Lawrence had a big music outbreak in the early '90s and started to get broadcast as the next Seattle and shit like that. All of a sudden, it just died. Then the Get Up Kids started touring and all these bands started getting exposure. There has always been good music in Kansas and ifs just finally started to get recognized again.

It is interesting cause we are in New York, which is known for being on the leading edge of what is happening, yet there are a bunch of bands in the Midwest that are blowing up. Why has the creative juice flowed to the Midwest rather than staying in the traditional hubs of underground music?

Josh: There are so many bands that have started in these cities that have originated so many types of music--Minor Threat in DC, the punk rock and hardcore in New York, and the pop punk out on the West Coast. Then you have kids in the Midwest listening to all of these types of music and kind of bringing these types of music into one; making it their own thing.

So you have all these punk rock flavors coming into the spectrum. How do you go from this mix of punk, hardcore, and indie rock the pop-driven, moog-inspired Anniversary sound? How come punk rock kids aren't playing punk rock anymore?

Jim: Maybe it's gotten stale--gotten to be a total formula. Maybe it's become too cliche. Punk rock has always been more of an attitude. People have always classified bands "punk rock," but I always thought of them as being a rock and roll band with a punk rock attitude. Essentially, we like to do what we want and that is punk rock. That is my definition--do what you want and who gives a skit what everyone else says.

You guys are about to record. Can you talk about it a little?

Josh: It's going to be a rock and roll record. It's going to be a pop record. It's going to having catchy flicking hooks. It will be a lot more experimental with sounds, laying down different tracks, vocal harmonies ... a lot more keyboards and electric piano. But it awill be a rock record.