The Agenda

The Agenda

The Agenda is a Minneapolis hardcore band. The group is associated with punk and garage rock, and its early history is tied to an Athens house party in early 2002, after which it builds a following on the Athens scene. Guitarist Ryan Lewis and keyboardist Dan Gellar are proprietors of Kindercore Records, and that connection places the band on the label’s showcase at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas in 2002. The Agenda’s debut album, Start the Panic, is a collection of punk and garage rock songs released on Kindercore, a label better known for the melody-driven pop associated with Athens in the late 1990s.

Recordings and performances

Start the Panic contains 11 songs, each marked with an exclamation point in the track titles. The album receives strong coverage in the European press, and the band tours Europe after its release. It also plays the Reading and Leeds festivals, along with other high-profile shows.

Line-up and later history

A separate project also uses the name The Agenda from 2008: Adam Ross begins recording under that name with producer and engineer Sam Polizzi at GFI Studios. Ross comes from Lyons, near Rochester, New York, studies at Berklee College of Music, and records six original songs with blueprints for their development. Mike Staus plays drums on the material, and Ross then takes the act on the road from Rochester to Boston while continuing to work on new music and booking more shows.