It’s been two years since The Get Up Kids last released a full-length of new material. Those two years were filled with extensive touring, opening for the likes of Green Day and Weezer, the patriarchal figures of the ’90s pop rock/punk movement that the Lawrence, Kansas-based band can very easily be aligned with. They also headlined a few shows on the Vagrant America tour this summer, the label-sponsored big bus affair that rocked the country. The only new full-length albums that have been made by these guys is the alter-ego band release Reggie and The Full Effect — a band that has actually developed a relatively large following of its own.
The boys are back on the road again and visiting the Barrymore this Saturday, just a few weeks after the release of their b-sides/unreleased material album, Eudora. Eudora has everything from covers of David Bowie’s “Suffragette City” and The Cure’s “Close to Me” to the band’s original “Breathing Method,” a song that previously was only found on their first and long out-of-print 7″.
There is a certain extent of absurdity to this collection (as with most collections of this sort), seeing as how this is the third release that has featured “Forgive and Forget” and “Shorty,” and technically the fourth release that “I’m a Loner Dottie, a Rebel” and “Ten Minutes” have been on. Although these are all alternate recordings, for the most part the difference is negligible at best. This collection is only helpful for hardcore fans of the band, and also new fans who missed the bus on earlier releases but don’t want to spend the extra money buying every EP.
Don’t expect to hear much from Eudora this Saturday, however, since the latter half of the album is mostly songs written before current keyboardist James Dewees was a part of the band, and have long been out of the live set rotation.
What you can hopefully expect to hear is a solid number of brand new songs, as the band is planning on heading into the studio Jan. 3 with producer Scott Litt (Nirvana, REM, The Replacements). You can also expect an energy-filled, action-packed show that The Get Up Kids are known for — which let them outdo Weezer for much of their tour last spring. Joining them on Saturday will be label mates Koufax and fellow Lawrence natives Appleseed Cast.
