Release of Take This to Your Grave

The band’s debut album, Take This to Your Grave , was released on May 6, 2003. Evening Out with Your Girlfriend was released shortly before Grave in March 2003, when the band had gained considerable momentum. “Our record was something being rushed out to help generate some interest, but that interest was building before we could even get the record out”, said Uprising Records owner Sean Muttaqi. The band actively tried to stop Uprising from releasing the recordings (as the band’s relationship with Muttaqi had grown sour), as the band viewed it as a “giant piece of garbage” recorded before Hurley’s involvement, which the band members no longer considered their debut album. Gradually, the band’s fanbase grew in size as the label pushed for the album’s mainstream success. According to Wentz, shows began to end in a near-riot and the group were banned from several venues because the entire crowd would end up onstage. The band gained positive reviews for subsequent gigs at South by Southwest (SXSW) and various tour appearances. The band joined the Warped Tour for five dates in the summer of 2004, and on one date the band had only performed three songs when the stage collapsed due to the large crowd. The band appeared on the cover of the August 2004 edition of Alternative Press , and listening stations at Hot Topic partially helped the album move 2,000-3,000 copies per week by Christmas 2004, at which point the label considered the band “tipping” into mainstream success.