James Dewees - The Get Up Kids

The Get Up Kids

In 1997, Coalesce played a music festival in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania with fellow Kansas-Citians The Get Up Kids, who had just released their first album Four Minute Mile on Doghouse Records. At the end of Coalesce's set, they began smashing all of their equipment, and James picked up his Floor tom and threw it into the audience, hitting a girl on the head. Someone picked it up and tried to steal it, so James began chasing him, along with The Get Up Kids' guitarist Jim Suptic. They started talking, and Suptic invited James to hang out with the rest of the band.

Coalesce and The Get Up Kids began collaborating more and more, playing shows together and eventually covering each other's songs for a split 7". James recorded keyboard for the band on their Red Letter Day EP, and after its release, joined the band full-time. After the release of the band's second album Something to Write Home About, The Get Up Kids began receiving much greater national attention. In order to capitalize off of the success of Something to Write Home About, as well as bridge the gap between their next album, the band released a collection of B-sides and rarities, entitled Eudora, in 2000. This also included a re-make of "A Newfound Interest in Massachusetts", with a new arrangement placing a much heavier emphasis on the piano.

In 2002, the band released their third studio album, On a Wire, produced by Scott Litt. The album was a major departure from the band's previous, poppier sound, and struggled sales-wise as a result. In 2004, the band released their fourth album Guilt Show. The album was met with a much warmer reception than On a Wire, but there was a great deal of tension between the band mates during their world tour supporting the release. Lead singer Matt Pryor, whose wife had recently given birth, wanted to spend more time at home. At one stop in Australia, the band broke up before deciding to finish the tour. However, they decided that they would do one final farewell tour before going their separate ways for good. Around the beginning of their final tour, the band released Live! @ The Granada Theater, their first live album. The album was recorded at the Granada Theater in Lawrence, Kansas at the band's tenth-anniversary show. On July 2, 2005 the band played their final show at The Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Missouri.

On August 28, 2008 James announced there will be a reunion tour in 2009.

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