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The Academy Is...
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The Academy Is... is a rock band from Chicago, Illinois, and signed by the Decaydance imprint of the Fueled by Ramen label. They were originally known as "The Academy", but added the "Is..." in 2004 to avoid legal complications with other established bands already under that name. As of 2008, the band has released three full albums, Almost Here, Santi, and their newest album, Fast Times at Barrington High.
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Encyclopedia
The Academy Is... is a rock band from Chicago, Illinois, and signed by the Decaydance imprint of the Fueled by Ramen label. They were originally known as "The Academy", but added the "Is..." in 2004 to avoid legal complications with other established bands already under that name. As of 2008, the band has released three full albums, Almost Here, Santi, and their newest album, Fast Times at Barrington High.
History
Band Beginnings (2003)
William Beckett (singer) and Adam T. Siska (bass)'s plans for starting a band together started to fruition on on March 4th, 2003 recruiting Mike Carden (guitar) after his former band Jodie broke up then eventually adding AJ LaTrace as a rhythm guitarist and Michael DelPrincipe as a drummer. The band then broke up. A few months later they reformed and headed into the studio and recorded their self-titled debut EP, The Academy (2004), for the Chicago-based label LLR Recordings. LLR Recordings had previously released Beckett's solo project Remember Maine's debut album The Last Place You Look in 2002. The EP was recorded in Villa Park, IL at The Gallery of Carpet by Producer Brian Zieske. Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy heard it and was impressed. The label immediately signed the band.
Almost Here (2005)
In 2004 the band headed to Florida to record their Fueled by Ramen debut Almost Here, produced by James Paul Wisner, who has worked with Dashboard Confessional, Further Seems Forever, and Underoath. After recording the album and a doing a summer tour, the band underwent a lineup change. Tom Conrad, formerly of Chicago local band 5o4plan, replaced LaTrace as the second guitarist/backing vocalist and Andy Mrotek, formerly of Last Place Champs, replaced DelPrincipe as the drummer. Andy Mrotek and Thomas Conrad are listed in the liner notes, but were added to the band after the recording of Almost Here to replace DelPrincipe and LaTrace, respectively. They hit the road hard, touring with Fall Out Boy, Something Corporate, Midtown, Matchbook Romance, Motion City Soundtrack and Armor for Sleep. The album was released on February 8 2005 and the following summer, the band embarked on their first headlining tour alongside Plain White T's, Days Away and June. On Billboard's charts Almost Here peaked at #7 on Top Heatseekers, #16 on Top Independent Albums, and #185 on The Billboard 200
As of October 26, 2006, The Academy Is... had announced via the blog on their official website that Tom Conrad and the band had parted ways. Although the blog provided no reason, Tom later made a post on his website, Forevernever.net, in which he states that he never "quit the band", which has led fans to speculation about Tom's departure. Michael Guy Chislett joined the band to replace Tom on guitar.
Santi (2007)
While touring as a main act on the 2006 Warped Tour, the band began the process of writing songs for their second album. Once finished, the band flew to Los Angeles to record their record with Butch Walker. As of December 23, 2006, the band had officially finished the recording process and the album, entitled Santi, was released April 3 2007 on the Fueled By Ramen label. The release of this album was listed on Blender's 25 reasons to love 2007. On January 26, 2007 a sample of "LAX to O'Hare" was released on the band's Absolute Punk profile. The album peaked at #32 on The Billboard 200
The band went on to release the song "We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands" as the album's first single, before releasing the album on April 3, 2007. Fall Out Boy, +44, Cobra Starship, and Paul Wall all joined the band on the 2007 Honda Civic Tour, after which the band moved on to the "Sleeping With Giants" tour with support from The Rocket Summer, Armor for Sleep and Sherwood. Partly through the tour, Cobra Starship was added to the support. The tour ended on November 24, 2007 in Chicago.
Fast Times at Barrington High (2008)
The band's third studio album, Fast Times at Barrington High, was released on August 19th, 2008 through Fueled by Ramen. The title refers to the high school William Beckett, Adam Siska, and videographer Jack Edinger attended. The first single, "About a Girl", was added to the band's MySpace page on July 15, 2008 and was subsequently made available from various download sites. On August 25, 2008 "About a Girl" was played on The Hills (season 4, episode 2). They also released the songs Summer Hair = Forever Young and His Girl Friday of FTABH on their Myspace page and Purevolume page. The album itself has since been critically acclaimed as some of the bands' best material and made it onto Rolling Stone Magazine's 50 Best Albums of the Year ranked as #46. It peaked at #17 on The Billboard 200
TAITV
TAITV is a video podcast series created by the band. The show, whose initials stand for The Academy Is... TV, was created to allow fans a peek into what happens backstage and on the tour bus. TAITV episodes are now available on iTunes and new episodes air every Sunday night at 9/8c at . There are currently over 65 episodes of TAITV (excluding Season "One"). Guy Ripley, played by Ryland Blackinton (of Cobra Starship) has his own show on TAITV called "Guy Ripley's True Things". The third season of TAITV premiered June 1, 2008. TAITV episodes are made by the band's photographer and friend, Jack "the Camera Guy" Edinger. Jack has appeared in many episodes as cameos, does all voice overs, co-writes, edits, and shoots each episode. He tours with the band and takes a lot of breaks with Adam Siska, as they live close together in the suburbs of Chicago.
Bill & Trav's Bogus Journey Tour
On October 1, 2008, the band embarked on their fall co-headlining tour with good friends We the Kings, named "Bill & Trav's Bogus Journey Tour". The name refers to the 1991 movie "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey". Carolina Liar and fellow Decaydance band, Hey Monday also performed on the tour. On November 6, 2008 at the House of Blues in Chicago, William Beckett debuted a new song called "Winter Passing" that the band had written only days before. Beckett has said the song is about winter time in the Midwest. He has since incorporated the song into other show sets. The track was released on December 2, 2008 on iTunes.
Influences
The band has cited influences from many Alternative rock and Rock acts such as blink-182, The Smashing Pumpkins, 504 Plan, Hot Water Music, The Promise Ring, Travis, U2, Pink Floyd, Weezer, Death Cab for Cutie, Lifetime, The Audition, Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Eat World, Cursive, and Cobra Starship.
Guest appearances
William Beckett's appearances:
Discography
Albums
EPs
Singles
from Almost Here:
from Santi:
from Fast Times at Barrington High:
- "Summer Hair = Forever Young" (2008)
- "About a Girl" (2008) #96 U.S. Pop
- "His Girl Friday" (2009)
from Winter Passing:
Compilation appearances
External links
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