The Anniversary | Main

The Anniversary brought their own blend of male-female vocals, jangly guitars, and synth keyboards to the emo scene after signing with Heroes and Villains in 1999. The five Kansans produced Designing a Nervous Breakdown, drawing comparisons to their label owners, the Get Up Kids, and another boy-girl synth pop band, the Rentals. The band's willingness to experiment led to guitarists Josh Berwanger, Justin Roelofs, and keyboardist Adrianne Verhoeven all sharing lead vocals and the release of a nine-minute epic on Vagrant's Another Year on the Streets. (Also in the band were drummer Christian Jankowski and bassist James David.) Borrowing from the theatrics of '80s rock bands, the Anniversary reveled in adding glittery pyrotechnics to their live shows. The new millennium sparked further music from the Anniversary along with growing recognition of the band in the music press. They issued a split EP with Superdrag in fall 2001, later collaborating with the Pulsars' Dave Trumfio for their 2002 sophomore effort, Your Majesty. After the release of Your Majesty, the Anniversary began demoing tracks for their next album, quickly coming to the realization that they were suffering from creative differences and splitting up as a result. After the breakup, Berwanger, Jankowski, and David formed the Only Children, Verhoeven sang in a number of bands before releasing an album in 2008 under the name D*R*I*, and Roelofs released a record under the name White Flight. In 2008 Vagrant released the double-disc set Devil on Our Side: Rarities and B-Sides, comprised of demos recorded before Designing a Nervous Breakdown and after Your Majesty, as well as singles and compilation tracks. ~ Ron DePasquale, All Music Guide