The Sacred Root Kava Lounge & Tea Bar was decorated with birthday banners and balloons Feb. 21 for anydayinjune’s anniversary show, titled “Juniversary.” The show was presented by IC Unknown Stage, an Ithaca College club that utilizes on- and off-campus spaces to host engaging alternative shows authorized by the college. 

anydayinjune is made up of sophomores West Moore and Jamie Kurnev on guitar and vocals, Colin Kelley on the bass, Gili Butler-Furlong on the omnichord and first-year student Casey Hildebrand on the drums. 

The band formed in February 2024 when Moore texted Kurnev asking if she was interested in starting a band. 

“[Kurnev] responded: ‘I thought you’d never ask,’” Moore said. 

From there, Moore asked Kelley and Butler-Furlong to join the then-unnamed band. The final piece of the puzzle was the addition of Hildebrand, who found out about anydayinjune from one of the posters the band had hung up around campus advertising their need for a drummer. 

anydayinjune has played several shows in the Ithaca area since its debut last year. Before the “Juniversary,” Moore admitted that they expected this show to be the band’s best one yet.

“One of the things I’m looking forward to most is the community aspect of it.” Moore said.

When anydayinjune approached IC Unknown Stage with the five-band lineup for this show, ICUS chose to host at Kava to accommodate for the larger amount of people these bands would draw in. 

Some of the greatest supporters in the crowd were the other performers of the night. Between sets, there was a rush to the stage as the bands congratulated each other. Kelley described the clear connection between musicians at the college.

“We’re getting to play with a bunch of people that we’re friends with,” Kelley said. “I love making music, but also, I think I just like the people that come along with it. It’s just really cool to see people be so positive and uplifting with each other.” 

anydayinjune was joined by four other bands: Three Holes, Indoor Recess, Red40 and Raindrop Collector. 

Three Holes and Indoor Recess were both making their debut. Before the show, Moore said one of the things that they were really excited about was giving these new bands their first opportunity to play. 

“I’m glad that I could help them break into the scene with what little influence we do have,” Moore said. “The community is everything to me in terms of why we [play.]” 

There were over 150 people in attendance, and throughout the show, the crowd could not stay still, whether it was moshing to Three Holes, getting up close and personal during Indoor Recess’s cover tunes, dancing to the experimental punk rock of Red40 or immersing themselves in the jams of Raindrop Collector. 

Zell Kurth, lead singer and guitarist of Three Holes, described the band’s first performance as surreal. 

“I got my wish of having people mosh during the last few songs,” Kurth said. “That’s really all I wanted.”

Kelley explained that the energy of the crowd matters to them when they perform. 

“My favorite part is actually seeing people enjoying our music, like we’re not just playing it at them,” Kelley said. “I can really get lost in the music and really forget about the world for a while. I really enjoy that. Especially doing that with other people, it’s kind of a magical experience.” 

Moore described anydayinjune as sixth wave emo, moving toward a new genre of emo music that blends all five of the band member’s different tastes.

“I am personally inspired by people like Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest or Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel,” Moore said. “I think part of what makes us unique is all of our different musical inspirations.” 

After the Juniversary show, Moore said anydayinjune has plans to record and release more original music. The band released “Live from 4306” on BandCamp in November 2024, which was two demos taken from the audio of their performance at the VIC Fall Radio Virtual Benefit Concert. In December 2024, it also released a music video for its song “There are Mountains in Chicago.”

Kurnev described the music video as the start of anydayinjune’s music recording journey. 

“What we released on BandCamp was just one microphone recording [of] all of us playing,” Kurnev said. “For the music video, we fully recorded each of our parts individually and then we mixed it. That’s what we want to do for the other originals we’ve been working on.”

With the promise of new music and more shows in and around Ithaca, there is much more to be heard from anydayinjune. Kurnev said she is motivated by the people around her to continue to make music. 

“It’s fun when you can connect with everyone,” Kurnev said. “I like what we have here.”