If being nervous for your first show in Happy Valley means eating lots of tacos, drinking margaritas and beer and hanging out with friends while watching Seinfeld, then consider the boys from Shattered Sky Productions (SSP) to be nervous.

Very nervous.

"You want a taco?" Brad Beneski, drummer for SSP asks. One of his friends quickly says that they also have soft-shell, reassuring everyone that they have options.

It becomes very apparent that SSP is not sweating what will be its first show since July and its first appearance in Happy Valley.

"We're more anxious than anything," Mike Ghigiarelli, guitarist, said.

It would certainly be understandable for SSP to be nervous. Hailing from Northeastern Pennsylvania, it is Brad (junior-journalism) and his brother Rich's (junior-media studies) first year at University Park, which basically means that their band is starting over.

"It's tough getting started here because of the bar scene. You know, a lot of bars just want a cover band to play for three hours. Obviously, we don't want to play covers," Ghigiarelli (sophomore-information, sciences and technology) said.

Fortunately, the boys of SSP are no strangers to challenge.

Being unable to hold onto a bassist for more than six months, having one guitarist back in Scranton working on his career and -- according to Ghigiarelli -- "more member changes than Spinal Tap" would be enough for any band to take a small hiatus to take time to regroup and relax.

But SSP is determined.

"This is a chance to get our music out to new people," Rich said.

The band has been going to the local music stores, including City Lights Records, 316 E. College Ave., to promote its new album, The Misadventures of Barry Jive, due out Nov. 25. They have also been trying to book shows at local bars, including the Saloon, 117 Heister Street.

The band describes its sound as "metal guitar driven Movielife meets Thrice" but don't call them emo or metal. The band makes it clear that they are not fans of being isolated to one category of music -- especially emo.

"The word 'emo' gets thrown around way too much these days," Ghigiarelli said.

As the band goes back and forth about what its genre label should be, the members eventually just agree that they should make up their own genre.

"We'll just be 'post-something,'" Ghigiarelli said.

Besides their hatred of redundant genre labels, they also aren't too fond of
fads and trends associated with rock music today, including tight jeans and eyeliner.

"The day I'm wearing eyeliner it'll match the tag on my toe," Brad said.

There is resounding solidarity among the band when it comes to this pressing issue.

"People can compare us to emo, but they're never going to see us in anything besides this," Ghigiarelli said, making reference to the band's overall style, which consists simply of loose-fitting jeans and T-shirts.

Last Friday, SSP members clearly showed that they are in no need of visual gimmicks to enhance their live performance.

Performing in front of a decent crowd at the Pollock Rec Room, SSP provided the audience with impressive three-man vocal harmonies, explosive guitar riffs and a true display of band unity. Ghigiarelli even made sure to publicly praise the two fill-ins that night -- Matt Lynch (junior-journalism) on bass and Ed Cuozzo on guitar -- for learning the band's songs in only three days.

The band concluded its set with an epic performance of "Barry Jive," which led to an enthusiastic ovation from the audience.

"I thought it went great!" Rich said.

Overall, the band members were positive about their performance and thrilled to be able to get their name out in the open.

While a successful show may be an excuse for this group of friends to get drunk and eat tacos, it certainly doesn't mean that the band has any intentions of slowing down.

"I believe in this band. With the right amount of time and alcohol, it can really go somewhere," Cuozzo said.