![]() Something To Write Home About not only opened new doors for its makers, but also established Vagrant as an independent label of fine pedigree it would later go on to release albums by Alkaline Trio and Eels. Admired by the likes of Weezer and Green Day – they opened for both on stateside tours, and also attracted sponsorship from Napster – The Get Up Kids soon outgrew their Kansas City roots to become a fixture on international festival bills, appearing at Reading in the UK among many others. No UK gigs happened though, and it’s unlikely they’ll tour again anytime soon.įorming in 1995, The Get Up Kids’ second album Something To Write Home About completely eclipsed their 1997 debut Four Minute Mile (recorded with Shellac’s Bob Weston) in terms of critical praise and commercial rewards, becoming a must-have for fans of the blossoming emo scene. After splitting in 1999, frontman Bob Nanna and drummer Damon Atkinson formed Hey Mercedes, whose Everynight Fire Works debut features below, and Braid briefly reformed in 2004 for a handful of shows in the States and Japan. Released in 1998, Braid’s third LP was a perfect blend of sing-along choruses and addictive guitar-pop motifs ‘ Killing a Camera’ was an obvious first-time standout, but opener ‘ The New Nathan Detroits’ and ‘ Milwaukee Sky Rocket’ quickly became live favourites, both making the Lucky To Be Alive tracklisting. Debut Frankie Welfare Boy Age Five was a sprawling, inconsistent mess of muddled ideas and semi-realised potential, and its follow-up The Age Of Octeen failed to win over the critics entirely. While further albums followed the release of Nothing Feels Good _– their final, _Wood/Water, the only one to not be released via Jade Tree – not one matched the engrossing content found on this sophomore effort, an album so vital to the development of a fluctuating-still movement that it lent its title to a book on the topic of emo, Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo, by Andy Greenwald.įorming in Illinois in 1993, Braid were among the most productive post-hardcore/emo groups of this Golden Age period we’re focusing on, releasing seven long-players including 2000’s career-summarising live offering Lucky To Be Alive, which rather ironically contained new material. ![]() Featuring a former member of Cap’N Jazz amongst their ranks – namely Davey vonBohlen, who’d originally started The Promise Ring as a side-project to the Kinsella brothers-featuring alt-rock outfit – the band ultimately laid the foundations for what is now considered emo, by mixing accessibility with a degree of sentimentality and originality in their sometimes cutesy and quirky wordplay. Immediately engaging, the album’s syrupy lyrical content, showcased on said single, led to the band being classed as an emo act, even if their jangled arrangements were an echo, of sorts, of ‘80s R.E.M. Milwaukee-based outfit The Promise Ring had already made an impact upon the indie fraternity with their debut album 30? Everywhere, but their second of a year later saw them cross over onto mainstream radars with MTV getting behind the album’s key single, ‘ Why Did We Ever Meet?’. Think of these releases as being representative of a Golden Age of emo… Here, DiS takes a little look at a few other LPs that, really, any self-respecting fan of Rival Schools should also have on their shelves. While emo’s roots go way back to the mid-‘80s, and bands like Rites of Spring, Shudder To Think and Hoover – we’re not giving the genre the Math-Rock Family Tree treatment just yet – the period of 1997-2001 produced a number of albums that, alongside United By Fate, should be held aloft as perfect examples of their kind. I.e.: emotional hardcore, lyrical honesty set to combustive riffs and hook-filled melodies, with just a tinge of melancholy creeping in. United By Fate, reviewed here, reached number 44 on Our 66 of 2006, a run-down of the best albums since 2000 while rightly regarded as a brilliant post-hardcore LP infused with pop sensibilities, the album landed at a time when its genre of choice was enjoying great popularity, particularly in the UK music press who were directing ears the way of Michigan, Milwaukee and Missouri for the sweet, sweet sounds of what can also be regarded as one stage of what we widely consider emo to be today. The Walter Schreifels-led four-piece enjoyed a great degree of acclaim prior to their 2003 disbanding, and their return is likely to be seen as a precursor to the possibility of that fabled second album. This summer the much-revered Rival Schools, whose United By Fate LP of 2001 (pictured) remains a favourite amongst DiS readers and staffers alike, are to perform live in the UK and at a number of European festivals, including the DiS-sponsored Hove Festival.
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