The Get Up Kids are a Kansas City-based American emo band. Formed in 1995, … Read Full Bio ↴The Get Up Kids are a Kansas City-based American emo band. Formed in 1995, the band was a major player in the mid-90's emo scene, otherwise known as the "second wave" of emo music. As they gained prominence, they began touring with bands such as Green Day and Weezer before becoming headliners themselves, eventually embarking on international tours of Japan and Europe. They founded Heroes & Villains Records, an imprint of the successful indie rock label Vagrant Records. While the imprint was started to release albums by The Get Up Kids, it served as a launching pad for several side-projects such as The New Amsterdams and Reggie and the Full Effect.
The Get Up Kids were viewed throughout their existence as a prototypical emo band, having been major players in the Midwest emo movement of the mid-1990s.[4] However, like many early emo bands, The Get Up Kids sought to dissociate themselves with the term, as it was considered dismissive to be seen as an "emo band."Years later, guitarist Jim Suptic even apologized for having the influence they did on many of the modern third-wave emo bands, commenting that "the punk scene we came out of and the punk scene now are completely different. It’s like glam rock now . . . If this is the world we helped create, then I apologize.”

Influential Kansas City five piece, The Get Up Kids, return in January 2011 with a new studio album,There Are Rules – the band’s fifth full-length collection, and the first on their own Quality Hill Records imprint.

Seven years after what looked to be their final album Guilt Show, with the group disbanding a year later in 2005 after 10 years of constant touring, The Get Up Kids returned to the studio in 2009, sparked by a spur-of-the-moment decision to start writing songs together again, made while they were rehearsing to promote the tenth anniversary edition of their breakout album ‘Something to Write Home About’.

The first fruits of these new recordings was ‘Simple Science’, released in April 2010 - an EP that burst, unannounced, into the Billboard Top 200. But that was just a taste – a precursor to the full-length album, which Alternative Press magazine, upon hearing a whisper of its existence, placed on their “most anticipated…” list.

The band re-convened at their Black Lodge studio in Eudora, KS at various times in 2010 to complete the recordings, and so ‘There Are Rules’ came to be - twelve new songs that will prove to be both surprising, and familiar. The result is a collection of songs that are fresh and inspired, created by a band that has been given new life and isn’t looking back. In some fashion, the new tracks mark a return to the early days of The Get Up Kids, when they formed fifteen years ago above a drum store in downtown Kansas City. The recording involved lots of analog 2” tape – live takes and a feel for the unexpected. Long time producer Ed Rose was once again seated behind the mixing desk, and the band even turned to Chicago luminary Bob Weston, who recorded their debut, Four Minute Mile, to master the album. “This record came together really organically. We'd throw out an idea and if it didn't work after 30 minutes we'd scrap it and move on to another one. We all wrote together really spontaneously and then fleshed it out with Ed in the studio," says Matt Pryor.

At the same time, ‘There Are Rules’ marks a new chapter for The Get Up Kids, as they return to their independent roots, forming their own label – Quality Hill Records – and reigniting the DIY spirit that originally launched the band onto the worldwide stage. Says Pryor, “"We had a really great relationship with Vagrant but we felt that with the proverbial rebirth of the band we wanted to start our own label. Do everything ourselves like we did in the beginning." And as to naming the imprint? "Quality Hill is a historic neighborhood in Kansas City. It's not far from where we first formed the band. It seems like an appropriate name for the label." And of course, echoing their formative years, there is a 7” single involved. That 45 would be ‘Automatic’ – a limited edition release due in January 2011.

And so, after touring across four continents to sold out crowds too many times to count, after becoming a crucial part of what has been called the “second wave of emo” in the 90’s along with bands like Braid and The Promise Ring and influencing a list of bands as long as your arm, after 15 years, 4 acclaimed studio albums, a collection of rarities, a live record, numerous 7"s and EPs the Kansas City five piece – Matthew Pryor on vocals and guitar, Rob Pope on bass, Jim Suptic on guitars and vocals, James Dewees on keyboards and Ryan Pope on drums - are excited to unveil ‘There Are Rules’ in 2011, proving that the final chapter for The Get Up Kids has yet to be written.

Valentine
The Get Up Kids Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

It's words you forget
To anniversary songs
The bottles bite back
Your tolerance wrong
Your good intentions count for little anymore
If you're sorry, why wage war?

I'm not fully convinced

There's something wrong with this
Could another point of view
Biased and untrue
Tear me away from you?

Will you be my valentine?
If I'm a world away?
Apologies are breaking me
The constants aren't so constant anymore

Two days I wait for
Calls to come though
Tonight for me translates to yesterday to you

Bend and you wave
You're barely away
I wish I could say tonight
That when you bend and wave goodbye
You'd take me with you

Will you be my valentine?
If I'm a world away?
Apologies are breaking me
The constants aren't so constant anymore
The constants aren't so constant anymore

Will you be my valentine? (the constants aren't so constant anymore)
Will you be my valentine? (the constants aren't so constant anymore)
If I'm a world away? (the constants aren't so constant anymore)
If I'm a world away? (the constants aren't so constant anymore)

The constants aren't so constant anymore

Overall Meaning

The Get Up Kids' song "Valentine" portrays a relationship that seems to be on the verge of collapse, with the lyrics emphasizing the disappointment and hurt that the singer feels. The opening lines suggest that the couple has forgotten or neglected important events in their relationship, such as anniversaries, leading to tensions and hurt feelings. The second verse suggests a growing distance between the two parties, with the singer feeling unsure about whether he can trust his own perceptions, and concluding that the "constants" in his life are no longer reliable.

The main focus of the chorus is the plea for reconciliation and the desire for the relationship to continue, even though there are obstacles in the way, including long distance and past mistakes. The use of the phrase "Will you be my valentine?" seems to suggest that the relationship may have lost some of its romance and that the singer is seeking to rekindle the passion and commitment that were once present. However, the final repetition of the phrase "the constants aren't so constant anymore" serves as a reminder that the relationship is indeed changing, and that there are forces beyond the singer's control that are making it difficult to maintain.

Overall, "Valentine" is a poignant and haunting song that captures the pain and uncertainty of a relationship in crisis. The lyrics are delivered in a plaintive and emotive style, with the quiet intensity of the vocals heightening the sense of intimacy and vulnerability.

Line by Line Meaning

It's words you forget
The words to anniversary songs slip your mind

The bottles bite back
Drinking too much alcohol catches up to you and has negative effects

Your tolerance wrong
Your ability to handle alcohol is not what you thought it was

Your good intentions count for little anymore
Even though you mean well, your actions and words have little impact

If you're sorry, why wage war?
If you're truly sorry, why continue to fight and argue?

I'm not fully convinced
I still have doubts or reservations

There's something wrong with this
There is an issue or problem that needs to be addressed

Could another point of view
Would seeing things from a different perspective help?

Biased and untrue
Perhaps that other perspective would be biased or not accurate

Tear me away from you?
Could this potentially drive us apart?

Will you be my valentine?
Do you love me and want to be with me?