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May 18th, 2007

The Get Up Kids “Something to Write Home About” Album on Vagrant Records

Things you might not know about this album:

+ Jon Cohen (of Vagrant) put a 2nd mortgage on his parent’s house so that they could come up with enough to give the band a bus for touring and an advance big enough to cover recording and living expenses.

+ The Get Up Kids almost signed to Mojo after putting out a few releases on Doghouse. The offer from Vagrant and the fact that Mojo wanted the Get Up Kids to re-record “Don’t Hate Me” from 4 Minute Mile were a few reasons they did not sign.

+ Part of the deal with Vagrant was giving the band their own imprint, Heroes and Villains, who introduced the world to bands like the Anniversary, Koufax, and Reggie and the Full Effect. (not Hot Rod Circuit, thanks for the correction scott).

+ The album has sold nearly 200,000 copies in the states and still scans around 75 copies per week.

+ The Something To Write Home about tour was sponsored by Napster (in 1999, when Napster was the biggest illegal music trading P2P).

+ Doghouse released the vinyl for this album which is out of print.

+ This is the release that served as a turning point for Vagrant turning them into the indie powerhouse they are today.

When Sean Klassen of IndieHQ said he would be able to set up full album streams for the new IndieHQ site, I really wanted to highlight older albums that may not get the attention from new music fans that it deserves. This album was one of the first albums I wanted to showcase as it really made a lasting impression on me and on independent music overall. If you were around when this album was released, you would know that it kind of rewrote the thoughts and expectations of independent music and without this release, Vagrant would not have been able to sign many of the landmark acts that they have signed. I have wrote a few of my thoughts on this album and if you are so inclined to read further, click the link. Do listen to the album though as it still holds up even after having been out for 8 years. Please also post your comments and thoughts on this record. If you have a story or experience relating to this record, I would love to hear it.

When I first got really excited about independent music, I gravitated towards Punk Rock and Ska. I jumped in head first for the melody and the up beat songs. As I scratched the surface, I learned of some of the ideals involved with Punk Rock and through my discoveries, I eventually found the local, Denver punk rock scene. All of the things I saw inspired me to start a zine which eventually led me to starting to book shows and starting a label. I booked a college venue, Club 156, in Boulder, Colorado for around 2 years during my junior and senior years in college. It was a great experience and through it, I met and saw a number of incredible bands. The venue only held 157 people, but I booked some of the early shows for bands like Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World, Reel Big Fish, and many more.

It was at Club 156 that I was first exposed to the genre Emo. Being an avid punk music fan, I was really turned off to the slower tempos and mathy instrumentation of Emo. Denver/Boulder had a thriving Emo scene with local legends Christie Front Drive. We would host a number of shows for them and every time I watched them, I just did not get it. They would bring bands with them like Boys Life, Knapsack, Jimmy Eat World, and honestly, I just did understand the appeal to this genre. I favored punk rock and Emo seemed to be the antithesis of the music I loved.

In 1997, I began working for Hopeless Records and lived in Los Angeles. I was getting exposed to more and more music and a relative turning point for me was getting a compilation which featured the Get Up Kids track, “Don’t Hate Me”. The song had the catchy hooks that I loved about pop-punk, but it also had some of the emotion of Emo. I absolutely loved the track and started picking up 7″s for the band. I picked up “Woodson”, and the “A Newfound Interest in Massachusetts” records and played them to death. Then on a visit to Vinyl Solution in Huntington Beach, I saw that the Get Up Kids released their first album, “4 Minute Mile”. Of couse, I picked it up. I was instantly hooked. The album rocked unlike many of their Emo predecessors and the hooks were undeniable. This record really opened my musical tastes and soon, I was listening to bands like Samiam, Braid, and Jimmy Eat World. I remember seeing a show at the Troubadour with the Get Up Kids and Braid, and I loved every minute of it. I remember hearing that there were tons of A&R reps at the show and it seemed certain that yet another indie band would be taken from our scene to be chewed up and spit out by the majors.

Fast forward to 1999. The band who nearly signed to Mojo ended up inking a deal with Vagrant Records. At the time, Vagrant had only a handful of titles. They had put out records for the Hippos, Boxer, the highly successful Before You Were Punk comp, and a live Face to Face CD that had reportedly sold a ton of copies. The label were on the rise, but it wasn’t until they put out “Something to Write Home About” that things really started to happen. Without taking the gamble to raise the funds to sign the Get Up Kids, they would never have been able to sign acts like Saves the Day, Alkaline Trio, or Dashboard Confessional. This album serves as a new chapter at Vagrant Records and without it, it is uncertain what kind of label Vagrant would be today.

This album really put Emo on the map and the band just skyrocketed. Very rarely do you see such explosive momentum these days and this all occurred before the internet made it so easy to discover new music. Before long, the band was selling out venues and headlining bigger and bigger clubs. Early on, you would see Emo kids at their shows, but as they got bigger and bigger, you would see frat boys, jocks, and you knew that something had changed. They kind of rewrote the expectations of how well an indie band could do.

I think that this album also served to influence countless bands to start emo bands. Without the Get Up Kids, many of the screamo and indie rock bands that are doing so well may have never existed. I guess in some ways, the Get Up Kids could be blamed for all of the terrible local emo bands that sprouted up in every town, but there really was something special about this album and this band.

I have followed the band since discovering their early 7″s and have loved their entire catalog. I think this album was kind of a peak for the band as their later albums never received the kind of enthusiasm that this album brought. I had heard complaints when the band released “On a Wire” as many thought the more mature sound that the band was heading in was not nearly as captivating. I actually love that album the most and love everything Matt Pryor has touched. This album though will always hold a special place in my heart and I like to put this album in the same category as albums by Operation Ivy, Green Day, Refused, and Minor Threat, in the way that it is such a milestone release.

Listen to the record.

Written by Virgil Dickerson