Oh hey there please meet 1997!

2008-07-28T23:58:33Z

So a while ago I asked on my LJ if anyone would be interested if I made a primer on this band. I dind't even say the band name but it didn't matter... no one really seemed interested except like three of my friends. I decided to make one anyways but then I stopped. I realized that I didn't know nearly enough about the band to do a proper primer... at least not one I would feel comfortable with. So instead I decided I'd just make a picspam and try to throw some random "facts" in there. Again, I don't know everything about this band so maybe I've gotten some things wrong. If I did, feel free to correct me. Or if you have anything to add feel free, too. :D So this band has been around for a few years in the Chicago scene and if we know anything about that scene it's how incestous it is. So they've played with Empires and have mutual friends in commen. They've dated people people other bands have dated... you can find that anywhere though. Um. Let me see here... anything else? I think other stuff is covered under the cut so I'll just shut up now. So... hi this is 1997.

Meet 1997...

they're a small band from Chicago.

Precious yes?

But before I get into them too much this is how the band used to look.

Babies right? Also there's a different gal and a member missing.

So lets talk about that first. The band 1997, which is signed to Victory Records, traveled to California to record their first album. The album was released on April 17th, 2007 and received fairly good reviews. A Better View of the Rising Moon, while having its high and low points, is a pretty good record in my opinion. It's been described as, "A record that retains a certain sense of bittersweet hope and optimism amid the usual quandaries of heartache felt and tears wiped away. This record is comforting, subtly uplifting, and made even more effective by the engaging interplay between vocalists Kerri Mack and Kevin Thomas." They didn't always sound the best together but they created a great sound, you know? Unfortunetly, Kerri did not stay with the band. She left shortly before the release of this album so she never actually did touring for the album. I wanted to include her in this because while she's not in the band anymore she was still a big part of it and is still in the band's lives so... meet Kerri.

Hi. This is Kerri Mack.

She was the original female vocalist and sings on the first album (like I've said 20xs already omg ahah). She has a great voice and reviewers for the album have compared her voice to Amy Lee. -- The instrumentation is nice and lush and the combination of male/female vocals work nicely. On "Grace," Mack's beautiful voice is showcased in a sort of Amy Lee goes emo-ish fashion. -- from punknews.org

I don't know much about her or what she's doing now but I do know she has a little girl. She is also working on a sideproject with Caleb that you can look at here. They sound good together and they're not selling this EP but they're totally willing to burn it on a cd and mail it to you. That's pretty sweet in my opinion. And okay... now more pictures.

Kerri is totally kinda really kickass okay. Can totally rock this do.
Also I spy a wee heart tattoo and I love it. :P

She totally rocks on the guitar while being precious, yes?

And again, I honestly don't know much about her but well... lookit.

She's completely beautiful (at least to me).

And has a precious smile. So yes.. we heart Kerri okay.

Now moving on. So after Kerri left they had to find another person for the band and that's where Alida comes in. From my understanding they were friends or something and asked her to join which obviously she did. She's been in the band since about when the album dropped in '07. She also sings on their second album, On the Run, which was released this last May and her voice is pretty different from Kerri's. I had a little bit of trouble with it at first to be honest but I think her voice goes well with the band. She's probably the member I know least about but whatever she's kickass too. She's done the touring with these boys and lemme tell you... that couldn't have been easy. Five boys, one girl. I don't know how she does it but she makes it look so easy. I mean come on... lookit.

Hi. This is Alida Marroni.

She sings and plays keyboard in the band.
(yeah i don't have any pictures of her actually doing it ahah *fails*)

She's pretty unique appearance wise. At least I think so.. and not in a bad way because I think she's beautiful too. :)

She can be a bit awkward sometimes but I find it endearing.

She partakes in extra curicular activities? I'm not sure but I really like this picture, okay. :P

She's beautiful and precious and look.. she's not even phased by the boy.

So sticking with vocals here... next we have Kevin Thomas. He takes care of vocals but occasionally you'll see him bouncing around with a tambourine which is completely precious... I'll show, promise. And okay this is where it gets a little confusing because on A Better View Kevin sang lead but on the second album he and Caleb (guitarist) take turns singing along with Alida. Confusing right or is that just me? Hahah. Okay so let's see... what else can I say about Kevin. He has kickass tattoos. Two nose rings that while I'm sure lots of people have I've only seen on him. I think they look pretty cool. Anyways... he went through a bunch of phases from what I can tell. Right now he's sporting shorter hair but for a while he had a bit longer and looked a little bit like William Beckett. And okay this phase where he had well... I don't know how to describe it so lookit.

I mean still kinda very attractive not going to lie but. Oh Kevin.

Then he took off the facial hair and looked like this and well...

I haven't seen them live but he seems to really get into it.

TAMBOURINE KEVIN!

Mr. Thomas the magic man. *nod*

See... magic. Tattoo magic. Disney tattoos magic.

All in all... Kevin, I approve of your voice and face. \o/

Next on our list is the talented Alan Goffinski who plays bass. And okay maybe I lied because I really don't know much about Alan except that he's a cool guy and is totally crazy sometimes. He also has a music page here where you can listen to his stuff. It's kinda acoustic and folkie? And while he doesn't have the best voice, his words are pretty great. Oh hey he also writes poems and I think they're pretty great actually. So here's Alan and all his preciousness.

Here's baby!Alan being all sorts of precious.

Kicking ass at bass hahhaa.

No seriously... lookit.

DON'T DO IT ALAN! See what I meant by crazy?
He has a habit of picking up animals/insects and doing crazy stuff with them like oh say trying to eat them!

But he's precious so it's forgiven, right?

*sigh* I think this is an awesome shot okay.
He demands you love him.... bye Alan. <33

Okay okay moving on because we still have three guys left. Here is Nick Coleman the drummer. Yes. Drummer. I have a thing for drummers... I blame Bob Bryar you guys. Anyways... Nick. He's kinda really ridiculous you guys. They have this section on their blog where they try to post a ridiculous picture of him every week and ahahah ahhahha. He's totally down with being a dork for us all to see. I have lots of love for that. So okay.. drummer. Nick almost didn't join the band because he was tired of being in all these bands and them not going anywhere. It's kind of a killjoy when you work so hard on something and you don't get recognized at all, you know? But luckily he joined them and well... yay. Um. O_o. Do I really have to say more or can I just show you pictures and flail? Whatever... my spam. I vote for flailing.

Meet Nick, you guys.

He's kinda a hot drummer. Because well... drummer Nick. Playing. Drums. That's all I can say.

And okay he used to be somewhat clean face but then started growing this...

and it turned into this... whatever he's still well... hot.
I mean really... I like this look I don't know why.

And this is what I meant by him not being shy with the dorkface. Seriously Nick. Shut your precious face.

But okay recently he shaved it off and this is what he looks like now.
(Added bonus Cody J and Caleb)

So that list picture had not only Nick but Cody J and Caleb. Now... I'll start with Caleb since he was in the band first. Caleb was on guitar and backup vocals on the first album but does lots of lead vocals on the second album. He's also the (one of the) lyricist although I'm not entirely sure if its really for all the songs because I know Alan helped out too. O_o. I really hate that I don't know more about this band but okay... continuing. Caleb writes poems too and actually has a livejournal community (inkthepage) where he'll post and occasionally so will Kevin and Alan. He seems really nice and has actually been sweet to people who write to him. I'm not going to lie though... I've heard rumors (ugh I know) and if you can believe all of them then he's kind of a little douchey but that's his personal life? I don't know. I'm not really going to get into those because frankly they're rumors and I don't have time for that. So... let's look at Caleb shall we?

Please meet Caleb Pepp. He's a baby here but :)

He plays guitar and seriously always gets so into it.

He's kinda intense... I don't know why but I feel like he is.

He's a dorkface though... lookit with a fan and that's awesome. ♥

Dorkface okay. Just... look at his dorkface you guys! Nothing beats the dorkface...

Well... except maybe this face. Caleb's just... something else.

Last we have Cody Josephson aka Cody J. Now Cody J wasn't originally in the band but he toured with them anyways. Friend supporting friends you know? He was in California during the recording of the first album and sometime between April '07 when the first album dropped and Jan. '08 he joined the band. He's actually very precious. He's been known to leave messages to Caleb declaring his love, "I love you so much. Your the best friend i've ever had." It's precious okay. And also, "I can't do this whole 'living' thing without you buddy. hahaha kidding. but I miss you like crazy" when you know... the band was gone touring and Cody J was left behind. It was sadtimes people. So... how did they fix this? Well by having him join the band of course. :D It's not like they just had him join for the hell of it though, he's an awesome guitar player and also plays the harmonica. He's on the second album, On the Run and sounds pretty great to me. Oh he also has a music page here that you guys can check out too. So... lemme show you the adorableness that is Cody J.

This is Cody J now... or well now-ish :P

But he used to be this precious little kid here..

then like this... and ugh lookit his hair and his face.

here he is playing harmonica

and oh hey the tambourine okay?

He's just... so... I don't know. He's Cody J.

The thing you need to know about this band is that they love each other so much. They support each other and seem to have a great support system back home. Sure they've had hard times and someone even left the band but dude they got over it. They've moved past all the good and the bad and are still friends now. Kerri and Alida are friends from what I can tell and dude... how many bands do that? How many bands are still friends with ex-members and not just that but how many ex-members become friends with the person how more or less replaced them? Not many. Not as far as I've seen. And okay this band... they're young and still trying to find their place, I guess. Everyone makes mistakes, young or old, you make mistakes. I know people who have judged them based on rumors or who they've dated in the past and seriously... that's not our business. Their personal lives shouldn't be reason you like or dislike a band. It's supposed to be about the music and the band, no? And okay, I get it... maybe the way they behave has some baring on who they are but again... everyone makes mistakes. Who are we to judge them. I don't know... I really like this band. I really like the music and the words and just these people. They seem totally awesome and are amazing to fans. And that's all that matters. So I'm done with my picspam but I'll leave you with a few more pictures.

Grace will fly you home again.
My hearts crying for a change,
For the road to bend,
To be home again.
And grace is where I end and begin.
My love, my friend.
♥.

Links:

1997's MySpace
Kerri & Caleb's MySpace
Alan's Music page
Cody J's Music page
Victory Records
1997 Merch
Picture credit for a lot of these: Matt Wysocki's Photography

Click here for the post with their videos and music.

allthepretty

Oh hey there please meet 1997!

1997 video/music post.