The Get Up Kids are hard to catch up with. Between tours in Japan, Europe, England and America, it gets kind of hard to know where they’re going to be at any given time.
But according to keyboardist James Dewees, who spoke to The Badger Herald via cell phone from London, the busy schedule isn’t the worst part about touring.
“The worst part about touring is changing money,” he said. “It wasn’t so bad in Europe, because now they have the Euro, but in other places it’s just annoying. Oh, and doing laundry is hard, too.”
Touring is what The Get Up Kids do, really; they’ve been on the road almost constantly since their latest, the Scott Litt-produced “On a Wire,” was released in May 2002. They’re not supporting a new album right now but rather “playing everything from really old stuff to songs that will go on our next CD,” Dewees said.
The next CD, which the band plans to begin working on in April, was originally set for an early 2004 release date, but Dewees stressed that the date isn’t set in stone. “We really don’t know exactly when it will come out,” he said, “but we’re recording in April, May and June.”
One would think that such a harrowing schedule would be enough to at least cause stress within a band. The group has released two full-length albums, two EP and five 7″ records in two years, but the members seem to be in terrific spirits, still loving every second of their tour. Dewees said the stress doesn’t get to him because “it’s great to be able to make a living doing something you’d be doing anyway.”
The Get Up Kids formed in Kansas City around 1994, and Dewees came onboard around 1999, making him the newest member. He previously played drums for the hardcore band Coalesce, but it seems that the keys are his true passion.
“I started taking piano lessons when I was 11, but then I quit when my teacher retired. The new teacher wanted me to play Bach, and I was all like, ‘No, I want to play the Star Wars theme,'” he said. “Then I studied music in college and had to learn Bach anyway.”
A big part of The Get Up Kids’ success, it seems, is the work of their fans. Recently the band’s website announced the formation of a street team, a volunteer organization made up of fans who promote the band’s shows by putting up flyers, writing reviews, etc. The response has been tremendous, and Dewees had nothing but great things to say about the group’s fans.
“It’s really amazing, those kids. I mean, we owe them a lot. They’re out there working for peanuts just to promote our shows. That’s really cool,” he said.
Dewees also noted a difference between European and American fans. “In Europe, kids hang out in front of the venue doors like four hours before the show starts, and they just drink. You can’t do that in America,” he said, laughing. The crowds in places like Amsterdam seem to be older, too, he noted.
When asked who his favorite band to tour with has been, Dewees paused to confer with bandmate Robert Pope. After a few minutes of discussion, they agreed on Superchunk and Green Day as the best and Weezer as one of the worst.
They also agreed that either The Beatles’ Rubber Soul or Revolver would go on their list of all-time greatest albums, then tried in vain to remember the name of a nu-metal band they were on a plane with in Japan. “They were really cool, man, but I can’t remember their name. But their CD is probably really good, too,” Dewees said.
It seems clear that The Get Up Kids are in it for the long haul. The fact that they are all still the best of friends (Dewees took an extended pause during the interview to laugh at Pope’s suggestion that Sugar Ray would be an ideal touring partner) speaks volumes of their compatibility as artists.
In the end, it all comes down to the three words Dewees chose to describe The Get Up Kids: “way too good.”
The Get Up Kids, Coheed and Cambria play at the Barrymore Theatre Friday, Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.50 and are available at all Barrymore ticket outlets.
