Reggie and the Full Effect is a Kansas City indie pop band, the solo project for The Get Up Kids keyboardist James Dewees.
History
"Greatest Hits 1984-1987" - "Under the Tray"
In the late 1990s when he was still playing with The Get Up Kids, Dewees wrote several songs that he felt wouldn't fit with the band's style. However, he continued to write, and soon, with the help of The Get Up Kids lead singer Matt Pryor, he recorded and released Reggie and the Full Effect's first album Greatest Hits 1984-1987 in 1998 on Second Nature Recordings.
In April 2000, Reggie released his second full-length, Promotional Copy on Vagrant Records, and after a three-year hiatus, the third album Under the Tray was released in February 2003. This album contained the single Congratulations Smack and Katy, which would be the tune behind Reggie's first music video.
"Songs Not to Get Married To"
Reggie's fourth studio album, Songs Not to Get Married To, was released on March 29, 2005. Most of the music from this album was inspired by the divorce Dewees went through with former wife Megan.[1] Sean Ingram of Coalesce and ex-From Autumn to Ashes lead singer Ben Perri both appear on the album, as well as former The Get Up Kids bandmates Rob Pope and Ryan Pope.
The album contained the most singles of any Reggie album to date. Previously, the only single the band had ever released was for "Congratulations Smack & Katy" on Under The Tray. However, this album contained three. The lead single was for the song "Get Well Soon", and included a video chronicling the Loch Ness Monster struggling with a divorce, mirroring the album's themes.
The second single was for "Take Me Home, Please". A music video was released, although it did not receive the push that "Get Well Soon" did. Finally, Dewees released a music video for "Love Reality", a song by his alter-ego Fluxuation.[2] This remains the only music video that the band has released for one of the non-Reggie alter-egos.
After the album's release, James embarked on an extensive tour to promote the album, including stints with Alkaline Trio, My Chemical Romance and Hellogoodbye.[3]
"Last Stop: Crappy Town"
Reggie and the Full Effect dropped off of the Warped Tour in the summer of 2006 to record a follow up to Songs Not to Get Married To with producer Sean Beavan. It was confirmed by a MySpace bulletin that Reggie would release the song "F Train" from his new album exclusively for 24 hours on his MySpace profile on October 31, 2006. The song is much heavier than his other releases, and is very reminiscent of James' former band Coalesce.
In July 2007, speculation of Reggie coming to an end began through a message posted on his MySpace page. Later on, James posted a new message confirming they had not broken up.[4] However, soon afterward the official Reggie and the Full Effect Myspace page was taken down.
On April 8, 2008, Alternative Press announced that they had received details on the new album from Reggie and the Full Effect. The 12 song album is called Last Stop: Crappy Town and was produced by Sean Beavan. The album was released on June 17, 2008 through Vagrant Records[5]. In mid-April 2008, the band's myspace page was reactivated. On August 27, 2008 the band announced via Myspace the release of a B-Side titled "Shit Sandwich" available for free download.
It was announced via Myspace that the band would be doing their final tour from August 20 until September 14 with Leathermouth.[6] However, in an interview with Lawrence.com on June 30, 2008, Dewees made comments about his disappointment that the band would not be touring through his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, and that he hoped they could play shows there on future tours.[7] This brought question as to whether or not this tour will be the last for the band. At shows on this tour, James has been announcing that the 'Final Tour' thing was just a joke and a ploy to get more people to show up to the show.
He also spoke about fan reaction to the new, more serious tone of the album saying that "Reggie fans feel betrayed that there are no Common Denominator and no Fluxuation songs on this record. It’s like, shit wasn’t very fun and happy – it was actually pretty fucking spooky and serious. I can’t pretend that it didn’t happen … It took time, and now that I feel comfortable getting back to being a silly jackass, cool."
Future
In that same interview, Dewees confirmed that he is currently writing a full album for his British techno-pop alter-ego "Fluxuation", one that had been rumored for some time. James had performed 2 half done songs at recent tour dates. However, he has not mentioned a release for his other pseudonym, "Common Denominator".
At the end of the Farewell Tour, James said, in the September 8th, 2008 interview with Mishmash Magazine, that he will be "jumping right back into things" musically. Though he has not disclosed details of his plans, he did say that they involve "an old band from the 90's and early 2000s."[8] Current internet rumors, stated to be said by James on his tour, indicate that he is referring to a reunion of his former band, The Get Up Kids. These rumors were confirmed by the band on November 13, 2008, and the band played their first show since 2005 on November 16, 2008 in Kansas City.
Format
Dewees plays nearly every instrument on Reggie's recordings, including bass, drums, and keyboards. Each album also includes songs by alternate personas, acted out by Dewees in various styles. Fluxuation (who is reminiscent of artists from the New Wave and New Romantic styles), and Common Denominator, a Finnish Metal band with more industrial learnings similar to that of Germany's Rammstein.
Reggie's lineup for live performances changes frequently, but often contains members of The Get Up Kids, Coalesce, and The Esoteric, all of which are bands to whom Dewees has lent his musical talents. Other members of the live show have included musicians from the bands Hot Rod Circuit, The Anniversary, From Autumn to Ashes, Ultimate Fakebook, and most recently Shots Fired, My Chemical Romance, and Slipknot. Slipknot bassist Paul Gray also contributed to the recording of Reggie's latest album. Former members include Cory White of Coalesce (touring member) and The Esoteric on guitar and Josh Newton, who now plays for Every Time I Die, on bass. Newton befriended From Autumn to Ashes while they were on tour with Reggie and the Full Effect and Alkaline Trio. Frank Iero of Leathermouth and My Chemical Romance played bass on the farewell tour.
Discography
References
External links
