1997

To some people, 1997 may recall a memory of good things past. For one particular Victory Records group, 1997 will be the harbinger of great music to come. From the suburbs of Chicago comes this young quintet, who creates an effervescent, yet passionate brand of pop-rock that will linger in one's mind like the best of memories.

Belying their age, the members of 1997 have spend significant time in several Chicago area outfits, including suburban emo giants Constance, metal core/screamsters Funeral Etiquette and local pop-rock icons October Fall. However, as soon as they found themselves in the same rehearsal space for the first time, it became readily apparent that something special was happening. "We just knew," singer Kevin Thomas states. "The music we were putting together was flowing so perfectly. When we all started playing together, we knew we were going to do something with it."

They realized that in spite of rather humble beginnings. "It all started off in a decrepit attic apartment in [suburban] Lombard," Thomas recalls. "It was above an elderly lady who was completely deaf, making it the perfect place to play music all the time."

Ironically, 1997 almost lost drummer Nick Coleman at the get-go, until good karma kicked in. "I was sick of playing in bands that went nowhere--just all the hard work and no pay," he said. "Right before I started jamming with this band, my girlfriend was talking to her teacher who said she could predict the future. The psychic teacher said, 'Your boyfriend's next band is going to get really big'—and my girlfriend at the time didn't even know I was about to jam with this band. When she told me about that, I decided, 'What the heck, maybe I should give this a try.'"

That he did, and with the inclusion of bassist Allan Goffinski, 1997 started writing original material and playing out. The band put as much energy into creating provocative songs as they did in putting on a great show. "We put a lot of thought behind what our songs mean," Thomas says. "They tell stories about what's going on in our lives. There's a lot of growing up from the significant events happening in our lives. You think you know something about what's going on around you, but really don't get all the subliminal messages and the strings that are attached to everything."

In the course of their first year together, the band has grown so much that they became a staple in the local scene and attracted the attention of Victory Records. Their debut album, ...A Better View of the Rising Moon, was produced by Cameron Webb (Silverstein, Social Distortion, Zebrahead) and released on April 17, 2007. "We wrote 15 songs for the album and 12 made the final cut. You can tell how much tighter we've become and that we've been developing our own sound," Thomas says. "We don't ever want to play the same music. We always want to grow and try different things."

Only on Victory Records can one be rewarded for looking ahead...to 1997.