"Who's Tebow?" asked Michael Murray, lead guitarist of the band The Banner Year.
When he found out it was a UF quarterback, he jokingly replied, "I don't listen to football."
Although the band members may not be the biggest football aficionados, one
thing for sure is that they master the art of rock music.
The five guys from Austin, Texas are amicable as they speak proudly of their five-year devotion to the band. The Banner Year, who got the idea for their name by having "a really bad year," is excited to come to Gainesville.
Lead singer of the band, Jason Small, claimed that he always wanted to conquer this city.
"Bands like Against Me! are from this part of the country. All their songs are about loving it there or wanting to leave. I'm definitely excited to see it."
According to Small, their music is "punk enough to rock out, pop enough to sing along and mainstream enough for all the hardcore kids to hate us."
The band has played with bands from all different genres, including punk, metal and pop. They are big fans of the Foo Fighters and The Offspring-who they aspire to be one day.
The Banner Year has a strong fan base back in Texas and are always excited to see familiar faces when touring the rest of the country.
"We have a lot of the same people come to our shows. Fans are our friends," Small said.
They hope to reach anybody with their music because their songs are about universal messages.
"We're not looking for a specific crowd," he said. "If people can relate to our songs, we relate to them."
If they had it their way, the band would constantly be touring.
"It's all about the attitude," Small said. "We show up on time, try to treat everyone with respect, take responsibility. We take things seriously. We don't make promises we can't keep. This is our job. We play to five like playing to 500."
Every song is "performed." The band aims to put on a show, not merely sing to the audience.
"If you want to hear the music, then you can just listen to the CD," bassist Josh Smith said.
As long as the audience is having a good time, the band members said that they have a good time too.
"You can't take yourself seriously, life is too short to be serious," Small said.
They often insult each other, but only to get the crowd laughing. The only surprise is that fans wonder why they don't have such thick Texas accents.
