The Get Up Kids

The first time I had heard of them was in the fall of 1998. My friend Matt and I wanted to get some vodka, so I called a guy who lived in the freshman dorm at the U of M named Jim. He had tried out to play guitar for the old band, but for various reasons didn't play more than two practices.

It was my first time into any University dorm, so I was kind of nervous to begin with. Matt waited outside in the car while I went in and called Jim. We meandered down halls, up staircases, down staircases. I felt so damn lost. Finally we got to his room. We talked a bit and money and alcohol exhanged hands. There was some music on in the background, and I asked him what he was listening to.

The Get Up Kids.

He told me I should get their CD. I said I would, but I was really just worried sick that the arm of my Columbia jacket would look funny with a liter of Karkov vodka in it. Plus, I was knee deep in Reel Big Fish at the time, and if it didn't have a shit load of horns with a shit load of power chords, I really didn't give a fuck about it.

I didn't think much about the Get Up Kids until I ran into Jim again outside of Folwell Hall near Dinkytown in the fall of 1999. I had just started University. I asked Jim what he was up to. He said he was going to pick up the new Get Up Kids CD. Cool. He told me again I should check them out.

On one of those rare occasions, I would buy a CD without ever hearing a song by the band.

I didn't listen to it until I got back into my dorm room. I put in Something to Write Home About in my aiwa minisystem and I do believe my jaw dropped.

The pure energy and the rhythm of the drums completely caught me off guard.

I will always remember hearing "Holiday" for the first time. Then I heard the vocals. I thought they sounded like shit.

Slowly after a few songs I decided the vocals weren't so bad. I could get used to them. Every song felt totally brand new, inventive, creative...like I was taking my first artistic breaths. Every chord progression sounded new. Every melody felt so familiar and so strange at the same time. The drum fills were certainly something no punk drummer would ever think of.

I think my favorite song after several listens was "Ten Minutes". That song just pulled you in. The whole thing is one massive singalong with energy. Total energy.

Slowly I began to collect more of the bands catalog. I got the The Red Letter Day EP for Christmas the following year and bought Four Minute Mile soon after. I collected the bands earlier songs via Audiogalaxy.

By the time Eudora came around, it felt like an eternity since anything had been released since STWHA. It was only two years, but it felt like forever. I had listened to everything the band had ever released over and over....I was dying for something new. "Up on the Roof" tided me over fine.

By then, the musical landscape had changed tons. The Get Up Kids were part of the third wave of emo, whether they wanted to be or not. It just was how it was. As was and still is with most bands, The Get Up Kids refused to acknowledge their hand in the emo business - they wanted nothing to do with it.

So the band left their midwest roots to go out east some bigtime producer and came home with On A Wire. At this point in my music listening lifetime, I was starting to branch out. I was prepared for something different. Of course, most everyone wanted STWHA part II, but we all knew it would never come. The band got sick of heavy power chords with octaves on the second guitar and a big half time chorus to finish each song.

You pop in the CD and you get "Overdue". Shuffling drums, understated vocals, and lead guitar lines that weren't octaves. It's a bit different from popping in a CD and getting "Holiday". It sets a different mood. The rest of the CD is pretty good. It has a couple of throw away tracks, but those can be overlooked. I tried hard to like this CD, and in the end, I did (minus "Grunge Pig" and "High as the Moon". What the fuck were they thinking? Worst TGUK songs ever).

By the time Guilt Show came around, my interest in The Get Up Kids had waned, but I still wanted the CD.

The opener, "Man of Conviction" is probably the fastest song they've ever written - their take on punk. It gave the CD that burst of energy immediately that their previous CD lacked. The rest of the songs sound nothing like the first one, but that's allright. We, as listeners, finally got to that same point and it all makes sense now. The rest of the CD is excellent. The songs utilize the best traits of all the musicians in the band and it feels cohesive. The songs deal with adult themes that most 18-24 year olds aren't dealing with (divorce), but the band manages to make the feelings universally understandable.

I was fortunate to see the band open their tour for this CD and see them in the middle of the tour as well. The band sounded tight, but you could just see in their eyes and body language that they were ready to move on. You could tell that they enjoyed the band and still were all good friends and enjoyed playing together, but that it was going to be time to move on.

The band will be missed. It was a good run. Keep making music.