When Kansas City quintet The Get Up Kids unveiled their second full-length album in 1999, they had little idea how much of a turning point it would signal. Recently signed to California-based label Vagrant Records, they had been tasked with following up their rough-around-the-edges debut ‘Four Minute Mile’ with something bigger and better. Recruiting keyboardist James Dewees into their ranks and heading into a Los Angeles studio with co-producers Chad Blinman and Alex Brahl, in the summer of 1999 – ‘Something To Write Home About’ was born.
The iconic double pick slide of propulsive opener ‘Holiday’ giving way to 45-minutes of visceral longing, rage, and love, across twelve hook-filled singalongs The Get Up Kids redefined the scene. Bridging the gaps between indie rock, pop-punk, and emo, the earnest, heart-on-sleeve songwriting of ‘Something To Write Home About’ has gone on to inspire everyone from Fall Out Boy to The Wonder Years over the last quarter of a century, regularly cited as one of the greatest pop-punk and emo albums of all-time. A band whose impact on the scene has proved monumental, The Get Up Kids are celebrating the album’s anniversary with a brand-new deluxe reissue, including a disc of previously unheard material.
To talk about the creation of their iconic record, Rock Sound sat down with the band’s Jim Suptic to dive into the importance of their latest milestone...
ROCK SOUND: Going back 25 years to when you first started working on the.