Blast From The Past: The Junior Varsity

In the quiet winter times in Springfield, Illinois people would go out to the lakes and ice fish as much as they would go to the local music venue to see a show. The only real noteworthy exports that Springfield had were a few hall of fame football players and Abraham Lincoln. Being the capital of Illinois, there are a lot of cushy government jobs that makes the economy of Springfield a booming one. The scene is set by a surrounding countryside landscape and a small Andy Wildrick, who took his old band, Winner Takes All, and talked to a few friends. All of the original songs wrote by Winner Takes All were eventually re-recorded by the band that would rise from the ashes.

Wildrick would enlist bassist and vocalist Asa Dawson, Sergio Coronado on rhythm guitar, Chris Birch on drums, and Nick Dodson on keyboards for the project that would become known as The Junior Varsity. All of the band members were in college when they released their very first record, The Great Compromise, which was warmly greeted by every critic that came across it. The band toured tirelessly on their debut record, opening for such bands like The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, and Bayside. After the band got off the road they were handed a record deal by Chicago-based label, Victory Records. Right after they signed their contract, they went to work on their follow-up, which would become known as Wide Eyed.

Easily their most mainstream album, Wide Eyed was greeted by a wider fan-base and equally exciting following of critics. The band became subject to a lot of buzz and people believed it was only a matter of time until the band broke it big. With the wider fan base, Victory Records decided to re-release the band's debut album with a DVD and demos of some b-sides. The new fans got introduced to some of the older stuff that original fans in Chicago have been screaming for years. The buzz didn't get to the men of The Junior Varsity, they kept their head to the grindstone and were constantly on the road, doing what it took to get their name out there. By doing so, the band found themselves on the same tours as Good Charolette, Paramore, and Panic! At The Disco.

The band started to get a little road weary and decided to take a few months off. As they were doing that, every one of them started writing songs and different parts for a new record. So as soon as the band finally got back together they already had a great start for their third album, which would become known as Cinematographic. The hard work that everyone put into the record paid off, and the album is still one of the best that NOBODY knows about. But everything that the band put into the album started to implode upon itself. Rumors were confirmed, and bassist Asa Dawson left the band, which caused The Junior Varsity to drop off their tour with Permanent Me. After that tour, the band played one show at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Band relationships started to weather and it was announced that they went on "indefinite hiatus".

Since then, Andy Wildrick joined The Dear Hunter, which is an indie band based in Boston. The rest of the members have gone on to finish school. Talks of shows with even more buzz bands like The Graduate surfaced, but the band never actually committed with their finest line-up. That's where we stand today. Asa Dawson has said that the band have been having talks about getting together for a small tour, but nothing has ever happened in relation to those talks. The Junior Varsity doesn't leave a great legacy of bands and a tall order for bands that they influenced to go up against, all they were was a band that played music that every member loved to play. Just looking at the songs today, a good three years after first hearing of the band, I can tell you that the songs still hit a special spot in my heart.

Sonically, The Junior Varsity started things on The Great Compromise with a very rough and gritty garage band sound. The initial sound was touched up to be more of an alternative-punk sound, but the band still had that element of aggression and unpolished life to it. The band has said that they loved playing songs off of that album because they knew that the crowd would respond well to them and give them a fun show. You can tell when listening to the songs off that record that they just wanted to play music that they loved to play. The songs on their Victory debut, Wide Eyed, had a little more polished sound to them. The band showed that they started to stray away from straight emo-punk to an alternative sound. Sure they had a distinct punk styling, but they implemented different movements and different sounds into their songs. They led a front of emo-ternative sounding bands with that album, which they would improve upon in their final album, Cinematographic.

Guitar riffs, distortion, tones, bass lines, and vocal melodies were the key components that made Cinematographic a great listen. The lyrics on this record were also much improved from the bands previous efforts, which I believe is in reflection of the band growing up both together and individually. It's really difficult to talk about this band in terms of just songs and tones, especially if you have ever listened to them at all. If you can just reach out and have a common ground with the melodies and vocals, then the hook will be deep into you to, and you too will wish that The Junior Varsity would make their return to the world of music.

Recommended Listens:
"Falling Far Behind"
"Get Comfortable"
"The SKY"
"The Greatest"
"Memory Made Easy"

Recommended If You Like:
Reggie And Full Effect
The Get-Up Kids
Motion City Soundtrack
The Early November
Radiohead