Signing to Vagrant Records

While the band was receiving rapidly increasing national and international attention, they became unhappy with Doghouse Records’ ability to keep up with the increasing popularity of the band. The Get Up Kids’ announcement to leave Doghouse Records brought interest from prominent record labels including Sub Pop , Geffen and Mojo Records . The band made a decision to sign to Mojo, but before the contracts were signed, they began to have second thoughts. The main issue was over the label’s insistence on owning merchandising rights, a large source of the band’s income. Moreover, the band was insulted the label requested they re-record “Don’t Hate Me” from Four Minute Mile for their next record, feeling that the label believed it was “the best that [they could] write”. Before the deal with Mojo was official, the band met Rich Egan, founder of Los Angeles–based Vagrant Records . He convinced the band to sign to Vagrant instead, offering them $50,000 to record a second album, as well as their own imprint, Heroes & Villains Records. Reflecting on the decision in 2000, Rob Pope said, “…the more we thought about it, the more we realized that we wanted our band to have a career, not just one big shot where you put everything into one record.”