Something to Write Home About


Something to Write Home About is the second studio album by American rock band The Get Up Kids, released on September 28, 1999. The album was produced by The Get Up Kids themselves, with co-producers Chad Blinman and Alex Brahl. Blinman also recorded and mixed the album, with Brahl assisting with additional engineering. The album was a financial success, peaking at #31 on Billboards Heatseekers 200 albums chart in North America, and earned positive reviews. Something to Write Home About is the first Get Up Kids album to include James Dewees on keyboards.
After The Get Up Kids' previous album, Four Minute Mile brought major label offers, the band decided to remain with an indie label and signed with Vagrant Records for their next album after a short period with Mojo Records.

Background

With the release of the Woodson EP, the Get Up Kids signed a two-album recording contract with independent label Doghouse Records. In June 1997, the group went on a U.S. tour, on which they became friends with Coalesce. Shortly afterwards, their drummer, James Dewees, moved in with the bassist Rob Pope and his brother, drummer Ryan Pope. When the Get Up Kids went on tour, Dewees would look after the apartment. The group released their debut album, Four Minute Mile, in September. It was supported by American and European tours between September and May 1998. The group then went on a break and spent the next few months writing material for their next record.Their next album, Four Minute Mile, sold over 40,000 copies, which attracted attention from various labels. The band, who wanted to leave Doghouse, began discussions with other labels, such as Geffen Records, Vagrant Records and Mojo Records.
Starting from December, the group wrote a batch of new material as they were waiting for their deal with Mojo Records to be finalized.
By April, tired that the negotiations with Mojo Records had taken too long and eventually came to a halt, the band felt it wasn't the right time to be signing with a major. Vocalist/guitarist Matthew Pryor later revealed that the label's founder Jay Rifkin wanted to treat the band as a new act, own the rights to their music publishing, in addition to being unwilling to buy the band out of their contract with Doghouse. To get out of their Doghouse contract, the band recorded the Red Letter Day and forfeited the vinyl rights to their following album. That same month, they formed their own record label, Heroes & Villains Records, which signed a deal with Vagrant Records that gave them other acts signed to Heroes & Villains, which included the members' solo projects. At the time, Vagrant was searching for a flagship band on which they could expand their business with.

Recording and composition

In June 1999, the band travelled from Kansas City, Missouri to Los Angeles to record their next album. Before the group could start, Vagrant Records' co-owner Jon Cohen had to borrow money from his parents, who mortgaged their house in order to fund the sessions. The album was recorded over the course of six weeks in June and July with Chad Blinman at Mad Hatter Studios in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. The band would spend the daytime at the studio and spend the nights at a friend's house. The band produced the record themselves, with co-producers Chad Blinman - who mixed the album - and Alex Brahl, who did additional engineering on the album and would later go onto co-found Curb Appeal Records with The Get Up Kids guitarist Jim Suptic and Almon Duffy. Several of the songs included were re-recorded from past releases: "Red Letter Day" from the Red Letter Day EP, "Ten Minutes" on a 7" vinyl for the Sub Pop Singles Club and "I'm a Loner Dottie, a Rebel" for a split album with Braid.
When making the album, the band was inspired by Wilco's Summerteeth and Jimmy Eat World's Clarity.

Release and promotion

In August and September 1999, the group went on a European tour; the tour was planned to last a month, however, the group only got to play six shows over eight days. Following this, the band appeared at the CMJ MusicFest. Something to Write Home About was released on September 28 through Vagrant and Heroes & Villains Records. The vinyl version was released through Doghouse Records. The Japanese version included "Forgive and Forget" and a cover of "Regret" by New Order as bonus tracks, while the European version featured included a re-recorded version of "Forgive and Forget" and "Central Standard Time". A music video was released for "Action & Action" through music retailer Insound. In October and November, the group went on a US tour with At the Drive-In. In February 2000, the group played a one-off show in Kansas before embarking on a Japanese tour.
The band then went on a tour of Australia with Jebediah in March and April. The album was released through Epitaph Europe in Europe on March 13. "Action & Action" was released as a single on March 24 in Europe with a demo of "I'm a Loner Dottie, I'm a Rebel" and a cover of The Cure's "Close to Me" as b-sides. The group went on a European tour in May and June with the Anniversary. In September and October, the band went on a headlining U.S. tour with support from the Anniversary, Koufax and Jebediah. It was sponsored by the peer-to-peer file sharing network Napster, who had helped people discover the band and other Vagrant Records' acts. In January 2001, the group supported Green Day on their U.S. tour, before supporting Weezer in February and March.

Reception and legacy

Something to Write Home About charted at number 31 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart. By the end of 2000, it had sold over 100,000 copies. In 2015, it charted at number 16 on the Vinyl Albums chart.
Reviewing the album for MTV News, critic Kembrew McLeod wrote that the band are "certainly not purveyors of bubble-punk in the same mold as Green Day or Blink-182, but they never forget the sheer pleasure that the right sequence of notes or the perfect harmony brings".

Legacy and accolades

In 2008, Pryor said that the group was in discussions with Vagrant Records to re-release the album as a 10th anniversary package, including a DVD and photo booklet.
In February 2009, Doghouse Records re-pressed the album on vinyl. The 10th anniversary edition was released on September 8, which included a DVD with a recording of their first show in a few years and a documentary on the making of the album. In addition, it included 7 downloadable demo recordings from the sessions.
The album appeared on best-of lists for the emo and pop punk genres. In 2014, as part of 10-year celebrations for Riot Fest, the band performed the album in its entirety. In 2015, Rock Sound included it in their 101 Modern Classics list at number 97. They later ranked it at number 102 on the list of best albums in their lifetime.

Track listing

Personnel

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Production
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DVD footage
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