Release of Something to Write Home About

After the release of Red Letter Day , Dewees became a full-time member as the band began recording their second studio album in Los Angeles in June 1999 with producer Alex Brahl. Before the album went into production, Vagrant Records co-owner John Cohen borrowed money from his parents, who had mortgaged their house in order to fund the production of the album. On September 21, 1999, the band released Something to Write Home About on Vagrant Records. The album’s lyrics reflected the record label strife the band had experienced and their distance between friends and family back home after their move to Los Angeles. Something to Write Home About has been singled out as the band’s only ‘true’ emo album, as the album’s aesthetic fit more into the contemporary definition of the genre. Furthermore, the album single-handedly turned the struggling Vagrant label into one of the top indie labels in the country, selling over 140,000 copies after its release. Not only did the album make the Get Up Kids the poster children for emo, but it also launched the genre into a public consciousness broader than the scattered local scenes that had previously embraced it. The album gave Vagrant Records the financial backing to grow and sign a string of other bands. At the same time, the addition of keyboards alienated some fans who thought it moved the band away from the contemporary punk scene’s DIY ethic.