An Indianola-based band has managed to break into the national music scene, becoming part of a national tour and contributing a song to an upcoming film soundtrack, while remaining virtually unknown to many Simpson students.

Index Case, “the sonic assault of pure energy and emotion,” began formation in 1998 and includes four young men from “I-town.” Jordan Spence, Josh Parker, Joe Ansley, and Simpson College junior Korey Birkenholtz.

An early form of the band played at an initiation-week fraternity party on campus three years ago. However they have never been invited by the campus as one of the many-featured bands sponsored by CAB.

Since their appearance on campus, the band has opened for such national acts as Papa Roach, Disturbed, Static-X, C.O.C., and Tantric.

“They are a little hard, but I think that students would really enjoy them,” said senior Doug Prange, who has seen Index Case perform twice and has their CD.

With “harder” alternative music becoming more mainstream, Index Case’s ‘mix of rock, punk, hardcore, metal, old school hip-hop, and jazz’ would “go over really well,” said Prange.

They have been selected as one of only 21 bands in the nation to perform on the AMP Circuit Tour. The tour is sponsored by Mountain Dew and was formed to create publicity for AMP Energy, the new drink in the Pepsi Company’s product line.

The tour has scheduled dates across the nation and bases many of its shows on and around college campuses. In order to join the tour, Index Case had to agree to play two related dates per month.

Being part of the tour has many benefits, including being featured in an AMP advertisement worth over $1,000 that features twenty-five seconds of the band’s music.

In addition, Index Case’s song “Every Breath” has been selected for the soundtrack of the upcoming True Player Productions/North Sea Film movie “The Private Public.”

This winter was “unexpectedly busy” for Index Case, they appeared in cities across the Midwest. This was despite plans to “take a month off” to record their second CD “Glass.”

Using past success, including their original CD “Birth,” a contribution to “The Midwest Movement Compilation Vol. 1” CD, their victory at Lazer’s Battle of the Bands 2000, and airplay on KAZR Lazer 103.3 in Des Moines and on 93X in Minneapolis, Index Case now plans to release their sophomore album this month and hopes to move on to “bigger and better things” in the future.

The band has its own website at indexcase.com and more information can be found at ampenergy.com and trueplayer.net.