Since music news is somewhat slow after the Rock Hall of Fame inductions (btw, congrats to Metallica and Run DMC) I thought I'd have a little fun and blog about my iTunes and what's in it. Going from A to Z by artist, starting with Academy Is..,The (lol) and ending with 500 Miles to Memphis (for some reason, my iTunes places bands with numeric names at the end) and everything inbetween. So without further delay, here's some background on The Academy Is...
The Academy Is...
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Formed: 2003
Label: Decaydance (a division of Fueled by Ramen)
aka: The Academy (2003-2004)
Current Lineup:
William Beckett (vocals)
Michael Chislett (lead guitar)
Mike Carden (rhythm guitar)
Adam Siska (bass)
Andy Mrotek (drums)
Former Members:
AJ LaTrace (rhythm guitar) (2003)
Michael DelPrincipe (drums) (2003)
Tom Conrad (rhythm guitar) (2004-2006)
The Academy Is formed out of the separation of Chicago-based bands Remember Maine (Beckett), and Jodie (Carden). Beckett, Siska, and Carden then recruited AJ LaTrace and Mike DelPrincipe for their demo entitled
The Academy released in 2004. Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy heard the EP and liked it so much, he convinced the brass at FBR to sign the band.
Under the FBR banner, the group traveled to Florida to record their debut album
Almost Here. Following a summer tour and the completion of the album, The Academy Is parted ways with LaTrace and DelPrincipe and added Tom Conrad on guitar and Andy Mrotek on drums. With the new lineup, TAI released
Almost Here and hit the road extensively with other rock bands Fall Out Boy, Motion City Soundtrack and Something Corporate. Following the tour, the band shook up the lineup yet again, replacing Tom Conrad on guitar with current lead, Michael Chislett.
Almost Here reach numer 188 on the Billboard 200 and featured the singles "Checkmarks" and "The Phrase The Pays". Based on the success of the album, the band was also named as a headliner for the 2006 installment of the Vans Warped Tour. During the tour, the band began writing and recording their follow-up album
Santi.
In the
second half of 2006 the band completed the album and it made its official release early in 2007, leading with the hit single "We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands" and the smash "Everything We Had"
Santi reached #32 on the Billboard 200. TAI parlayed their success into headlining the Honda Civic and "Sleeping With Giants" tours.
2008 saw the band's third Fueled by Ramen release,
Fast Times and Barrington High reach #17 on the Billboard 200 and #46 on Rolling Stone's top 50 albums of 2008 list. The lead single "About A Girl" has appeared on an episode of MTV's
The Hills and was #88 on the US Pop Charts. Currently, the band is touring and working on their fourth studio album tenatively titled
Winter Passing.I absolutely LOVE the FTABH album and consider it their best work to date. Some of my other faves are:
- Down and Out
- About A Girl
- The Test
- LAX to O'Hare
- We've Got a Big Mess On Our Hands
I hope you enjoyed this installment of iTunes A-to-Z. Up next is ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS.
