There’s a good reason why students should go to the Homecoming Carnival starting tonight at 6. ANEW, a rock group comprised of several University of South Florida students, has been working hard to get to play shows at USF.

ANEW will play at the event, with their set slated to start at 8:40 p.m.

The pop-punk ANEW is made up of four USF students who met prior to coming to USF. Alex Morency, a sophomore majoring in electrical engineering, plays bass while Nick Bernyk, a sophomore majoring in business administration, plays guitar.

Ethan Morency, a senior majoring in marketing and Alex’s brother, is the lead singer. Will DeHaan, a sophomore majoring in business administration, plays drums.

The Oracle talked to the band and found out more about how they hope to earn a steady following at USF.

The Oracle:How did you guys meet?

Nick Bernyk: Me and (the band’s original singer) Elliot Smith started jamming together. I played guitar and he sang. He knew Will, so Will became the drummer. Then Will knew Alex from Westshore High School in Melbourne, Fla. so (Alex) became the new bass player, … Ethan became the rhythm guitarist. Elliot left due to moving, so Ethan became the singer.

Ethan Morency:“We tried to work that out for a while, but then I ended up stepping up and became the lead singer. We found that it works best with the four of us.

O:How did you come up with the band name?

Will DeHaan:“I just figured this out the other day. I wrote down what looks like a thousand bands names, and then on one page it just said “NEW,” and then Alex joined the band. We were looking at my stupid list of band names and we added an “A.” ANEW, is all of our initials because of Nick, Elliot, Will, and then we added Alex. Then we had a show coming up and we needed a name. We kind of got stuck with that name.”

EM:For a long time, we were trying to change it, but for some reason it stuck. It ended up happening that we got such a following that we couldn’t change it. Conveniently after Elliot left, I was still in there, so the initials still fit. It’s simple, it’s memorable and it’s easy to search for online.”

O:Was it hard to keep up the band when you guys came to USF?

EM: We all decided to go to USF so the band could stay together. The hardest part was trying to find a practice space.

NB:The first semester we didn’t do anything because we couldn’t practice.

WD:We spent a lot of time writing our first two semesters, which is where all of the music on our album now comes from. A lot of the lyrics are about moving, going to college and having to leave stuff behind. Being in the band to us isn’t really a lot of work anymore because it’s just natural. It’s not like we have a “band assignment.” It’s stuff we do daily.

Alex Morency:Every day you naturally think about the band. It’s not a hassle to wake up and think “band.”

O:Do you still plan on keeping the band together after everyone graduates?

All:Yeah.

NB: We’re probably going to try to ride this out as long as we can.

EM:As long as we’re having fun, I think we’ll keep on with this. If people keep on hearing about us and our name gets out, people (will) come to see us. We want our future to be able to play a show and tons of people come and go crazy. We want it to be a party every time we play.

AM:It’s our dream for everyone on the USF campus to know who we are.