The Get Up Kids’ 25th Anniversary Deluxe reissue of seminal album Something to Write Home About out today digitally via Polyvinyl Record Co.
The Get Up Kids | Photo credit: Shawn Brackbill
The Get Up Kids today digitally released their 25th-anniversary reissue of their genre-defining sophomore LP Something to Write Home About via Polyvinyl Record Co. Newly remastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound, the original album and a second LP–containing a mix of 12 rare or previously unreleased demos, including the four-track acoustic recordings by singer/songwriter Matt Pryor–are out now at all streaming services. Its physical edition, due out on September 20th, features an expanded 28-page large format full-colour booklet with handwritten lyrics, photos, and more. To celebrate, The Get Up Kids reissued the iconic music video for their breakthrough ‘Action & Action‘ single, which saw them reach broader audiences on radio and via appearances on MTV2’s 120 Minutes. Directed by Adam Rothlein alongside director of photography Brian Dee, the video has now been remastered in 4K resolution as its definitive online presentation. The band’s Jim Suptic reflects: "'Action & Action' was the first music video any of us had ever made. Some of us were better actors than others, but I think we all had a pretty good time making it. I don’t remember exactly who came up with the concept for the video, but I do remember we wanted cute girls in it. That seems pretty funny now, but it seemed like a good tactic at the time.”
Tonight, the Kansas City band of Pryor (guitar/vocals), Pope (bass), Jim Suptic (guitar/vocals), Ryan Pope (drums), and Dustin Kinsey (keys), kick off their headlining North American tour that includes various sold-out shows and across which they will play the seminal album in its entirety. The run will end with a performance at Las Vegas’ Best Friends Forever Fest; a full itinerary is listed below and tickets are on sale now.
The ‘Action & Action’ video reissue follows the release of their Josh Berwanger-directed video for ‘Ten Minutes‘ (plus its demo version), and their video for the album's urgent opener ‘Holiday‘ (plus its demo version), that saw praise and support from Pitchfork, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, and more. The band, who were featured on the July cover of UPSET magazine, also made podcast appearances on The Record is Repeating and The Brooklyn Vegan Podcast, where they discuss behind-the-scenes stories while creating the fated LP.
“Our first record is what it is—its imperfections are one of the things that people like about it,” says Pryor. “But I personally wanted us to record something that sounded like a real band, that sounded professional and, you know, big.” Working for the first time with Chad Blinman, who co-produced Something to Write Home About with Alex Brahl at LA’s Mad Hatter studio, The Get Up Kids achieved the massive sound they sought. The 12-track LP saw a quick release on September 28th, 1999, mere months after their stint in the studio, and emerged into a rock landscape dominated by commercial rock, post-grunge, and nü-metal. "Nothing that was popular sounded like our album," says Suptic. "That style of music wasn't mainstream." Yet the album, along with fellow 1999 releases like Jimmy Eat World's Clarity and the Promise Ring's Very Emergency, solidified a canon of expansive, pop-leaning emo that would guide the genre's explosion in the new millennium, and go on to inspire platinum-selling bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, as well as wave upon wave of emo revival acts.
But Something to Write Home About’s success wasn’t limited to its immeasurable influence. It also positioned Vagrant, which would later add emo luminaries like Saves the Day and Dashboard Confessional to its roster, as the genre’s preeminent label. It also led to the band’s opening slots for Green Day and Weezer, and sold-out shows across a two-year headline tour that, by its end, had pushed the album’s Billboard Heatseekers chart summit to #31 and its unit sales into six figures (a rarity for an indie record in the late ‘90s).
In both the early drafts and remastered tracks contained on Something to Write Home About (25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), longtime fans will return to places familiar and formative, and rediscover plenty of moments as vivid as they were on first listen. For The Get Up Kids, these demos also have the same transportative quality as the finished album, warping them right back to downtown Kansas City and the five-story decommissioned ROTC training facility that — for $100 a month — served as their practice space. “When I hear those particular demos,” says Rob Pope, “it takes me right back to that rehearsal room.”
The Get Up Kids 2024 US Tour Dates (tickets):
23/08 - Dallas, TX - Studio at The Factory #
24/08 - Austin, TX - Mohawk #
25/08 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger #
27/08 - Mesa, AZ - The Nile #
29/08 - San Diego, CA - Observatory North Park #
30/08 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour # [SOLD OUT]
31/08 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour # [SOLD OUT]
01/09 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour # [SOLD OUT]
03/09 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall # [SOLD OUT]
04/09 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall #
06/09 - Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory Spokane #
07/09 - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall #
08/09 - Seattle, WA - Showbox #
10/09 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot #
11/09 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre #
13/09 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar # [SOLD OUT]
14/09 - Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck # [SOLD OUT]
15/09 - Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck # [SOLD OUT]
24/09 - Columbus, OH - The Athenaeum Theatre #
25/09 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live #
27/09 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer # [SOLD OUT]
28/09 - New York, NY - Warsaw # [SOLD OUT]
29/09 - New York, NY - Warsaw #
01/10 - Asbury Park, NJ - Stone Pony # [SOLD OUT]
03/10 - Boston, MA - Big Night Live #
04/10 - Buffalo, NY - Electric City #
05/10 - Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall #
06/10 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrew's Hall #
08/10 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave #
09/10 - Minneapolis, MN - Uptown Theatre #
10/10 - Chicago, IL - Metro #
11/10 - Chicago, IL - Metro # [SOLD OUT]
13/10 - Las Vegas, NV - Best Friends Forever Festival
# w/ Smoking Popes
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