1999″s Something to Write Home About lived up to its namesake entirely, creating a stir on indie-label Vagrant Records. Kansas-born rock quintet the Get Up Kids began to develop a hardcore fanbase with strong EP releases on Doghouse Records, and fair sales figures for their 1997 full-length Four Minute Mile. After taking a brief hiatus last winter the Get Up Kids were nabbed by alt- pop-punk trio Green Day for their winter tour.
- Paul Wong
- Members of the Get Up Kids chill on their porch with an odd-looking bald fellow.<br><br>Courtesy of Vagrant Records
“Initially we had planned to take 2001 off,” Get Up Kids drummer Ryan Pope said. a plan which was promptly monkey-wrenched by hard to turn down offers from Green Day, and a Weezer/Yahoo! Outloud corporate alliance. If the Get Up Kids had been interested in touring they could have headlined their own tour, but “It was a good package and we are fans of the band,” remarked Pope. “Plus, there is a lot of crossover between our fans, I think.” Pope couldn”t have been more correct, as the Get Up Kids finished first in an online poll conducted by Weezer as to who fans would most like to see them tour with. Fellow tour special guests Ozma were voted second in the same poll.
Once the Outloud Tour is over Pope said that the Get Up Kids plan to “take time off, and write material and get into a studio,” to record the anticipated follow-up to STWHA. Pope said he hopes the record would be out in “late fall 2001, or early 2002.”
The story is a different read all together for California co-eds Ozma who have built a considerable fan base in California and have sporadic holdings of fans throughout the country the only thing missing from their fairy tale is a soft kiss on a sleeping maiden”s lips.
Ozma”s blend of pop chord changes, harmony and melody, all wrapped inside a careful wall of sound vaguely resemble tour headliner Weezer. But where Rivers Cuomo”s lyrics explicitly describe the experiences of a 20 something, Ozma”s tunes both reflect and invoke feelings of high school nostalgia.
Pop-culturally aware songsmith Daniel Brummel frequently ties staples of his youth into his songs, “In Search of 1988,” and “Lorraine,” the latter of which is a song hung around a “50s style riff pining for the mother of Marty McFly.
Both bands have experienced positive fan reaction on the first half of the tour, and there”s no question why.