A fan's guide to The Get Up Kids

The Get Up Kids are a band spawned by the mid 1990s 'Emo' scene, though they have worked hard to distance themselves from that label over the years. The band is still touring, though it did split up in 2005 before re-forming, and its influence still pervades the American punk scene.

Members

The band are 'led' by Matt Pryor, the vocalist and rhythm guitarist, a co-founder of the band in its earliest days in the American city of Kansas City, Missouri. Pryor performed with another high school act called secret decoder ring. He joined up with Ryan Pope (drums), Rob Pope (bass), and Jim Suptic (guitar), following the demise of their band Kingpin in 1995. The new band were going to be called The Suburban Getup Kids until, reportedly, they realised that fewer bands' names began with the letter 'G' rather than 'S'. Suptic and the Popes remain with the band to this day, though Ryan Pope was replaced on drums twice in the early years of the band by Thomas Becker and Nathan Shay. The Get Up Kids lyrics and music have often seen them labelled as 'emo', but Suptic in particular has spoken out against this label, and tried to distance the band from the emo scene.

Discography: Albums

The band's full repertoire includes four studio albums, one live album, five singles and seven EPs. Doghouse Records released their début album in September 1997, with their second album 'Something To Wrote Home About' following two years later, this time on the Vagrant label. Third effort 'On A Wire' came out on Vagrant, in 2002, while 2004 saw the release of fourth album 'Guilt Show', on the same label once again. Their post-reunion album, in 2011 'There Are Rules' came out in January on Quality Hill Records. The band's solitary live album was released on Vagrant in 2005, as something of a farewell to fans as the band disintegrated. This album is entitled
'Live! @ The Granada Theater'.

Discography: EPs

The band released two EPs on Doghouse Records in the late 1990s, 'Woodson' (1997) and 'Red Letter Day' (1999). It would be five years until another EP soley by the band would appear, with the 'iTunes Sessions EP' in 2004. 'Simple Science' is the band's most recent EP, from 2010. The Get Up Kids have released EPs split with other bands. Their song 'Burned Bridges' shared an EP with a Coalesce song in 1996. 'Post Marked Stamps No 4' (1997) was split with the band Braid. The 'Central Standard Time' was released on an EP split with The Anniversary. Rocket From the Crypt were the co-stars on a 2004 EP called 'Devil in the Woods'.