Biography

Formed in 2002 by current guitarist Andy Wildrick, the band succeeded another local band called Winner Takes All; several songs written during that time were later recorded as Junior Varsity songs. The Junior Varsity self-released a six-song EP in 2002, with Noah Wenger taking lead vocals. A series of changes since has led to the band's line-up of Asa Dawson on bass guitar and vocals, Andy Wildrick on lead guitar, Sergio Coronado on rhythm guitar, Chris Birch on drums, and Nick Dodson on keyboards. Their first full-length, The Great Compromise, was released on British Records in 2004 while the band's members were still in college, and was warmly received by critics. The next year, the band recorded a cover of the song "Raining in Baltimore" for a Counting Crows

Counting Crows

Counting Crows is an American rock band originating from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1991, the group gained popularity following the release of its debut album in 1993, August and Everything After, which featured the hit single "Mr. Jones"...

 tribute album, Dead and Dreaming, which was populated by a number of then-up-and-coming independent bands.

After frequent touring in the Chicago area, their energetic live shows led to their signing with a leading Chicago-based independent label, Victory Records

Victory Records

Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It is a privately held corporation. It also operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several smaller independent record labels....

, in 2004. Their album, Wide Eyed, produced by Matt Squire

Matt Squire

Matt Squire is an American multi-platinum music producer and writer. He has produced, engineered, or written tracks for One Direction, 3OH!3, Good Charlotte, New Boyz, Selena Gomez, David Archuleta, Taking Back Sunday, HIM, The Used, All Time Low, Panic! at the Disco, Boys Like Girls, The Cab,...

, was released in July 2005 on Victory, and the band participated on the Warped Tour

Warped Tour

The Warped Tour is a touring music and extreme sports festival. The tour is held in venues such as parking lots or fields upon which the stages and other structures are erected. The BMX/skateboarding shoe manufacturer Vans, among others, has sponsored the tour every year since 1995, and it is...

 in both 2005 and 2006 while touring in support of the album. They have also opened nationally for a number of well-known emo

Emo (music)

Emo is a style of rock music characterized by melodic musicianship and expressive, often confessional lyrics. It originated in the mid-1980s hardcore punk movement of Washington, D.C., where it was known as "emotional hardcore" or "emocore" and pioneered by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace...

 and punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 acts, including Fallout Boy

Fallout Boy

Fall Out Boy may refer to:*Fall Out Boy, a band from Illinois, United States*Fallout Boy, a fictional character from The Simpsons and Bongo Comics.* Vault-Tec's mascot, properly called "Vault Boy", from the Fallout series of games....

, Gym Class Heros, Rise Against

Rise Against

Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 1999. The band currently consists of Tim McIlrath , Zach Blair , Joe Principe and Brandon Barnes .Rise Against spent its first five years signed to the independent record label Fat Wreck Chords, on which it...

, Straylight Run

Straylight Run

Straylight Run was an indie rock band based in Baldwin, New York. Two of the members, Nolan and Cooper, had been members of Taking Back Sunday and have now rejoined that band. Their final releases are the EPs About Time and Un Mas Dos, preceded by the full-length album entitled The Needles The...

, The Starting Line

The Starting Line

The Starting Line is an American pop punk band based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that formed in 1999.- Formation and history :In 1999, the band that would become The Starting Line was initiated in Churchville, Pennsylvania via an e-mail from guitarist Matt Watts to vocalist/bassist Kenny Vasoli...

, Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack

Motion City Soundtrack is an American rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 1997. The band consists of founding members Justin Pierre and Joshua Cain , along with keyboardist and moog synthesist Jesse Johnson, bassist and backing vocalist Matthew Taylor, and drummer, percussionist and...

, TheAUDITION, Bayside

Bayside (band)

Bayside is an American punk rock band from Queens which formed in the winter of 2000. The band has released five full length albums since signing to Victory Records...

, Sullivan

Sullivan (band)

Sullivan was a rock band from Greensboro, North Carolina, USA.Sullivan was involved in To Write Love on Her Arms.-History:Sullivan came together as a trio in 2001. In 2002, they recorded and released "Count the Time in Quarter Tones'on Forsaken/Tribunal Records. The EP sold well and extensive...

, Number One Gun

Number One Gun

Number One Gun is a Christian rock band from Chico, California, that was most recently signed to Tooth & Nail Records. They self-released their debut EP Forever in 2002, before releasing their follow-up albums Celebrate Mistakes on Floodgate Records and Promises for the Imperfect on Tooth & Nail...

, Aiden

Aiden

Aiden is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington that formed in the spring of 2003. The members are WiL Francis , Nick Wiggins , and Angel Ibarra . wiL originally played bass but took over lead vocals when the original singer left...

, Amber Pacific

Amber Pacific

Amber Pacific is an American band that formed in 2002 in Federal Way, Washington. The band has released three full length albums thus far, The Possibility and the Promise in 2005, Truth in Sincerity in 2007, and Virtues in 2010....

, and Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 1998, the band's constant members have been lead vocalist Joel Madden, lead guitarist and back-up vocalist Benji Madden, bass guitarist Paul Thomas and rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Billy Martin...

. Early in 2006, they toured in the UK, supporting The Academy Is...

The Academy Is...

The Academy Is... was an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, formed in 2003. Before dispersing, they were signed by the Decaydance imprint of the Fueled by Ramen label. They were originally known as "The Academy", but added the "Is..." in 2004 to avoid legal complications with other...

 and Panic! at the Disco

Panic! at the Disco

Panic! at the Disco is an American alternative rock duo, formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2005. Since its split, the band's line-up includes Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith . Former members Ryan Ross and Jon Walker left the group in 2009...

 at sold-out shows; UK rock magazines, including Kerrang!

Kerrang!

Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...

and Rock Sound

Rock Sound

Rock Sound is a British magazine which champions rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, whilst also giving coverage to more well known acts.-History:...

, reviewed the band's albums favorably. The lead single from Wide Eyed, "Get Comfortable", has received some airplay; the video for "Get Comfortable" was aired on MTV2

MTV2

MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...

 in 2006 and was also included on a free video sampler DVD received when purchasing certain albums from Victory Records artists. Victory re-released The Great Compromise in 2006 with additional demo tracks and a DVD bonus disc. Additionally, the band was named SPIN

Spin (magazine)

Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

 Band of the Day on July 26, 2005. They are currently featured on MVP 06: NCAA Baseball

MVP 06: NCAA Baseball

MVP 06: NCAA Baseball is the fourth edition of the baseball video game series developed by Electronic Arts. Because of Electronic Arts' loss of the Major League Baseball license to Take Two Interactive in 2005, which now has the exclusive MLB license, the publishers decided to transition the MVP...

, as well as Amped 3

Amped 3

The game received moderate to good reviews, with critics citing the game's highly original art style as making up for the occasionally repetitive gameplay. One such reviewer was GameSpot, giving the game a score of 7.6, which they classed as "Good". The Review collation site GameRankings gave the...

 for Xbox 360

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

.

The Junior Varsity finished recording their third LP at the conclusion of their December 2006 tour with labelmates Bayside

Bayside (band)

Bayside is an American punk rock band from Queens which formed in the winter of 2000. The band has released five full length albums since signing to Victory Records...

. This album, entitled Cinematographic, was released by Victory Records on June 19, 2007. The Song "The Sky!" was released on "Oven Fresh" on Fuse from their latest effort called Cinematographic.

In August 2007, they were set to tour with Permanent Me

Permanent ME

-History:Permanent Me first formed while its members were in high school, first as "The Madison Chase", then "Crown Victorian", and then thirdly as "Yes, Virginia". The group benefited from online promotion on sites such as MySpace, and after catching the ear of Sum 41 lead singer Deryck Whibley...

 and Scenes from a Movie

Scenes from a Movie

-History:Scenes from a Movie members Tony Bush and Jon Ewing were friends in high school, but Ewing attended the University of Charleston while Bush went to college at Bowling Green. Ewing, together with guitarist Luke Del Papa, then convinced Bush to drop out of school, and the group expanded to a...

. Soon before the tour started, rumors about Asa Dawson leaving the band were confirmed, and The Junior Varsity left the tour. The JV did play a show at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame without Dawson. The vocalist/ bass player at this show was Brandon Carnes who used to be the frontman for Midnight Fall, a band from Springfield, IL. On October 21, 2007, Andy Wildrick announced that the group would be going on indefinite hiatus, and that the band members would be going to college but may do occasional one-off shows locally in Illinois.

Andy Wildrick is no longer in The Dear Hunter

The Dear Hunter

The Dear Hunter is an indie rock band originating in Providence, Rhode Island. It began as a side project of Casey Crescenzo, formerly of post-hardcore band The Receiving End of Sirens...

, an Indie Rock band from Boston, Massachusetts.

On December 28, The Junior Varsity had their official farewell show at Club Chrome in Springfield, IL with opening bands The Graduate

The Graduate (band)

The Graduate was an American indie/emo band from Springfield, Illinois.-History:The Graduate formed in central Illinois in November 2005, after the breakup of two other local bands whose members began playing shows together. Lead singer Corey Warning said of the band's name, "None of us graduated...

, Wise & Burn, and Greenwood. The full lineup performed that evening for the first time since Summerfest.

The Junior Varsity made a new twitter and announced that "exciting things were to come". http://twitter.com/tjv_music

Recent News

According to Asa Dawson, the band members have been talking about a reunion show being possibly played sometime in December 2009. He said they've been meaning to make plans on this for a while but will hopefully have the show played by then.

On July 30, 2010 The JV played a reunion show in Springfield, IL at the Dublin Pub. The band Park also reunited at that show. The next day Nick Dodson sent a Facebook message to many of the people who attended the show thanking the fans. He also said to keep an eye out for more shows in the winter.

On August 3, 2010 @TJV_music responded saying 'Dunno. If people keep showing up we might keep playing'

Line-up

Current Members

• Asa Dawson: Bass, Vocals
• Andy Wildrick: Lead Guitar
• Sergio Coronado: Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
• Chris Birch: Percussion
• Nick Dodson: Synth, Keyboard, Saxophone

Fill In 'Members'

• Brandon Carnes : Bass, Vocals

Former Members

• David Bradbury : Bass
• Noah Wenger: Vocals
• Tony Peck
  Tony Peck
  Tony Peck is the drummer for Peoria, Illinois based band, The Forecast. He was raised in Pleasant Hill, Illinois and is a 2002 graduate of Pleasant Hill High School where he was active in the school's music programs and was a 2002 recipient of the Arion Award...
  
  : Drums

Discography

• The Junior Varsity (self-pressed, 2002) - EP
• The Great Compromise
  The Great Compromise (album)
  The Great Compromise is an LP by The Junior Varsity. It was released by British Records in 2004, and was re-released by Victory Records in 2006 with bonus tracks and a DVD.-Original track listing:-Re-release track listing:...
  
  (British Records, 2004) - LP
• Wide Eyed (Victory Records, 2005) - LP
• The Great Compromise re-release (Victory, 2006) - LP with bonus DVD
• Cinematographic
  Cinematographic (album)
  Cinematographic is the third full-length album by the American emo band, The Junior Varsity. It was released by Victory Records in 2007, and has 12 tracks. "The Sky!" was released as the first single from the album. Kenny Vasoli contributes vocals to the song "Wunderdrug".- Track listing :...
  
  (Victory, 2007) - LP

External links

• Official Site
• TJV on MySpace
• TJV on Purevolume
• [ TJV at Allmusic.com]
• Cinematographic Review at AbsolutePunk.net