the_getup_kids silentbob Call it emo. Call it post-hardcore. Call it pre-millennial angst-driven pop-core. Call it whatever. Don't, however, waste time coining genre names for the Get Up Kids; its valuable time better spent diving into the depths of the band's latest, Something to Write Home About. The band's sound has a way of resolving itself far better than elusive catch phrases, generic descriptions and genre labels could ever hope for, anyway. With the release of Something to Write Home About, the Kids take their sound to new levels, with driving arrangements only hinted at on their previous albums. Still using the turquoise guitar tones of their earlier albums, the Kids also find time to throw in ragged guitars, bigger beats and production to make your head swirl. Where Joe Emo is ready to back down, play discordant guitar riffs and whine all night long, the Get Ups once again prove their ability to pack a punch with vibrant songwriting on this album. Dodging the rosters of big-name labels, The Get Up Kids inked a contract with Vagrant Records and established their latest stab at a record company imprint, Heroes & Villains. "In the indie spirit, we started our own label and signed a deal with Vagrant Records to pretty much run the show." - says singer Matt Pryor. Though crops of emo-esque combos seem to be springing up faster than drunks at a St. Patty's Day parade, the Get Ups have been throwing down their sound for nearly five years. Coming together in the suburbs of Kansas City, MO the Kids formed from the ruins of Kingpin and Secret Decoder Ring, a pair of K.C.-based acts causing a stir on the local scene. After a self-financed debut 7-inch, "Shorty," released on Huey Proudhon Records, the band began turning heads. Growing out of the attention garnered from their debut 7-inch, the band released a string of singles for Contrast and Doghouse Records, all the while precariously balancing the band?s output against their drummer's high school career. The band's 7-inch collection would blossom into both an EP and the band?s first full-length, Four Minute Mile; both were released on the Doghouse label with Four Minute Mile's sales now reaching over the 40,000 mark. The Kids soon found themselves hitting the road pretty hard, touring in support of acts such as Braid, Jimmy Eat World, Mineral, and MxPx, among others. After crisscrossing both the United States and Europe, meeting up with acts like Rocket From the Crypt and Sleater Kinney, as well as making an appearance at Austin's fabled South By Southwest, the Kids finally had their share of the road -- playing more than 200 shows in a year will do that. After catching their breath, the band settled back in Kansas City, spending their time fleshing out a heap of new songs for Something To Write Home About. Soon after, they relocated to Los Angeles, CA to record the new full length with Chad Blinman (Face To Face, Dishwalla, No Motiv) at the Los Feliz, CA based studio Mad Hatter. In addition to the band's beefed up sound on Something to Write Home About, the Get Ups' latest album also features an addition to the band, with James Dewees, former tom-tom hurler extraordinaire of Coalesce, on keyboards. "We're pretty excited because we now look more like Duran Duran with a full-fledged keyboard player," joked Jim Suptic. With a new member, a new album and a new label, the Kids are set to launch a new chapter of their history. With tours scheduled to support their most compelling album to date, the Get Ups are positioned to take their swirling tunes to new levels with Something to Write Home About. 000823 ... silentbob 1) How did you get the band's name? Matt used to be in a band called Secular Theme from Kansas City and they had a song called "Suburban Get Up Kids". The term was coined by our friend Rob who lives in Chicago now. Anyway, the "Suburban" part got hacked because the last three bands that Matt had been in started with the letter "S" and had all broken up. It really has no meaning, they just liked the way it sounded. 2) Who writes the music and the lyrics? Usually, one of the band members will come up with an idea and then they all arrange the song. Everyone writes their own parts. Most of the lyrics are written by Matt since he sings the most, Jim writes most of what he sings. 3) What instrument does each member of the band play? Matthew Pryor - vocals, guitar Jim Suptic - vocals, guitar Robbie Pope - bass Ryan Pope - drums James Dewees - keyboards 4) Who sings the lead vocal on "10 Minutes"? Jim sings the lead on that song. Jim usually sings about one song per record. He sings "Woodson", "Fall Semester" and "Forgive and Forget". 5) Are all your songs about personal experiences? No, a lot of the songs are about something that happened to one of us but some are about our friends...and enemies. To our knowledge, no one knows that we've written a song about them. 6) Where can I get your guitar Tablature? Our good friend Jim has transcribed a bunch of our songs. We never did it because we didn't want to be reminded what poor guitar players we are. 7) When are you coming to (insert your town/city/state/country here)? We tour a lot. However, there is a lot of ground to cover on this here earth and only so many days in the year. We tour the U.S. at least once a year and the rest of the world as often as we get the chance. All tour dates are posted on the webpage as soon as they are confirmed. Don't worry we never forget about shows. In the unlikely event that we do have to cancel a show (we've only had to cancel 6 shows ever out of over 400 shows!) we will be back in full force as soon as we are able. 8) Why don't you let people video tape your shows? We've always been very supportive of the punk rock community and video tape trading. The idea was that you could see tapes of your favorite bands and trade them for tapes of other bands. However, in the last year with the whole internet auctions and whatnot we feel that something has been lost. Whenever someone is trying to sell a video tape of poor sound and video quality on the internet for $40 then they are taking advantage of us and the kids who like the band. We don't tour 200 days out of the year so that someone can rip off our fans. So, we put a stop to it the best that we could. It's a shame that a few bad apples had to spoil it for everyone else. Keep in mind that videos sold of our shows are not approved by the band...we're sorry if you got ripped off by a bootlegger. 9) Who are your influences? This list is always growing...Jimmy Eat World, Weezer, The Pixies, Nirvana, Wilco, The Afghan Whigs, The Flaming Lips, Motley Crue, Elvis Costello, Braid. 10) Who is Reggie and The Full Effect? Unfortunately, we aren't at liberty to discuss his identity. 11) Would you guys like to be on my comp? Thanks for the offer, but we're kinda "comped out" right now. Maybe another time. 12) Do you really only play "big cities"? This was a quote...I think it had something to do with a post on our webboard about now playing in Wilkes Barre, PA. This falls under the only so many days in the year category again. However, we've played Wilkes Barre, PA twice. I don't know what his problem was. We've played almost every state in the union except Mississippi, Maine, North Dakota, Wyoming, Hawaii and Alaska and we are working on those. 13) What is Heroes & Villains? Heroes and Villains is our record label... we own it. 14) Are you signing more bands? Sure, but not many. You can send us demos but we might not have the time to listen to all of them or get back to you. Keep that in mind. 15) How long have you been a band? Four years as of October 14th 1999...Jim's birthday. Ryan joined the band in April of 1996 and James joined up in February of 1999. 16) Whatever happened to your old drummer? Nathan Shay (who played on the first 7") went back to art school after rocking with Boxer from Boston. 17) Why don't you play "a newfound interest in Massachusetts" anymore? We don't play a lot of songs anymore because they don't sound nearly as good live as they did on the record. 18) What kind of keyboards and Moogs does James use? James uses a Fender Rhoades Electric Piano, an Alesis Quadrasynth and a Moog Prodigy, Robbie uses a Moog Opus on "Out Of Reach". 000823 ... silentbob getupkids 000909 ... jon are pretty good 000909 ... shiva I saw them yesterday! 001008 ... silentbob don't hate me Forgive me for running off to find the one thing I have to do. Each night you can fall asleep assured that someday I’ll be coming home to you. These constant reminders in everything I see. The chance of a lifetime…what a great place to be. Oh Amy, don’t hate me, for running away from you. Oh Amy, don’t hate me. I’m still in love with you! I’m sorry I can’t be everything to you. Your place is at the heart of what I do. Everything’s for you. Oh Amy, don’t hate me, for running away from you. Oh Amy, don’t hate me. I’m still in love with you! Oh Amy, Oh Amy! Oh Amy, Oh Amy! Oh Amy, don’t hate me. I’m still in love with you! Every time I run away, it’s easier to stay. At the heart, the heart is you in everything I do. Every time I run away, it’s easier to stay. At the heart, the heart is you in everything I do. lowercase west thomas It’s easier to say it’s over, It’s easier but I might still be pretending. Not a single one will believe. I can’t say I wouldn’t agree. I don’t know if I know myself at all anymore. I gave up on what I couldn’t give in. I gave up on what I couldn’t give in. I gave up, I gave in. no love If I gave everything would you still listen to me? If I gave everything would you still listen to me? It could be so much better than this. It could be so much better. I don’t want you to love me anymore. I don’t want you to love me anymore… than enough, I can’t be held accountable if you can’t make up your mind. Tonight, as much as I would like to, I can’t put my hands all over you. If I put myself in that position, Myself to be immune to you, To keep my heart from breaking, If you can’t make up your mind. If I gave everything, if I gave, If I gave everything, if I gave. I don’t want you to love me anymore. I don’t want you to love me anymore. If I came home one last time, Think of what the two of us could do. If I came home one last time, Think of what the two of us could do. I guess we’ll never know. (see the thing is i accidently wrote about them twice a while back, so i see this as an ample opportunity to post multiple lyrics but also to cut down on loadin time.) 001223 ... unhinged I'LL CATCH YOU (i think it's one of the most beautiful love songs of all time) Can you sleep as the sound hits your ears one at a time? An unspoken balance here, unabridged for so many years That i should stare at receivers to receive her isn't fair. Don't worry I'll catch you Don't ever worry Your arms in mine, anytime I wouldn't trade anything You're still my everything to my surprise, before my eyes, you arrive I'm still breaking old habits when you pulled the wool over me I can see everything, remembering "Jinx Removing" No need for reminding.... you're still all that matters to me 001223 ... unhinged was listening to them tonight. i forgot how much they hit me. they always make me think of jon. and tim and that night i was drunk (which i really try not to think about in depth very often). the hot summer and the way it stifled me. i've tried to talk to jon for the past two days and he's still ignoring me. but i don't care. how many times have you all heard me say that? ha 010315 ... kerry you're a few years overdue i've spent them waiting here for you now your charities refuse i can't name a penance for abuse 24 years overdue what kind of role model are you? at the very least learn not to do i think i might be over you do you hope i won't learn to make the same mistakes that you would make me aware my only fear my only hope is letting go went on a limb for you capsised when i turned 22 did it burn as bad for you? do you hope i won't learn to make the same mistakes that you would make me aware my only fear my only hope is letting go my only hope is letting go you're a few years overdue i spent them waiting here for you 'overdue' 020627 ... kerry i found all the photographs that you never would get to see you swallow your own neglect with your miserable company your daughter forgot her memories your daughter forgot her remember these i'm over the president of a false security no matter how i come back you'll never be proud of me it's too long to stay gone it's too long to stay gone i don't regret what words were said deserve respect you never had watching the world keep falling around you i found all the photographs that you never would get to see no matter how i come back you'll never be proud of me it's too long to stay gone it's too long to stay gone i don't regret what words were said deserve respect you never had wacthing the world keep falling around you 'stay gone' 020627 ... hannah.hold.on best band ever. id kill to see or meet them. the have the most beautiful music i can never listen to them enough. they've pulled me thru some of my deepest depressions *to stay alive just to hear them play* 021111 ... silentbob i have a ticket in my room for their show in iowa_city on the fifteenth of december 021112 ... girl_jane I have a very similar ticket in my car. I'll see you Saturday, Bobby. 021211 ... silentbob come early, sweetness 021211 ... unhinged don't worry honey i'll catch you 190418 what's it to you? who go blather from