James Dewees

Infobox musical artist
Name = James Dewees

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Img_capt = James Dewees in Iowa
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Birth_name = James Dewees
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Born = birth date and age|1976|10|13
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Origin = Liberty, Missouri
Instrument = vocals, Piano, drums
Voice_type =
Genre = Alternative rock, Indie rock, Emo, Hardcore punk, Pop, Power pop
Occupation =
Years_active = 1995-Present
Label = Vagrant Records
Associated_acts = The Get Up Kids
Reggie and the Full Effect
New Found Glory
Coalesce
My Chemical Romance
Leathermouth
URL = [http://www.thegetupkids.com/ The Get Up Kids]
Current_members =
Past_members =
Notable_instruments =

James Dewees (born March 13, 1976) is an American musician who has been involved in many musical projects including The Get Up Kids, Reggie and the Full Effect, Coalesce, New Found Glory, and My Chemical Romance.

Early Life and Coalesce

Dewees graduated from Liberty High School in Liberty, MO in 1994. He started college at William Jewell College in Liberty, and has a degree in music composition from the University of Missouri. In 1995, he was asked to replace Sean Ingram as vocalist for the Kansas City hardcore band Coalesce. This angered Ingram, and caused a fight that eventually broke the band up. However, in the summer of 1996, the band decided to re-form, but this time with James Dewees as a drummer. With them, he recorded the band's first two full-length albums Give Them Rope and Functioning on Impatience.

The Get Up Kids

In 1997, Coalesce played a music festival in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania with fellow Kansas-Citians The Get Up Kids, who had just released their first album Four Minute Mile on Doghouse Records. At the end of Coalesce's set, they began smashing all of their equipment, and James picked up his Floor tom and threw it into the audience, hitting a girl on the head. Someone picked it up and tried to steal it, so James began chasing him, along with The Get Up Kids' guitarist Jim Suptic. They started talking, and Suptic invited James to hang out with the rest of the band. [http://www.crashandbang.com/?page_id=3] [Kelley, Trevor "Say Goodnight, But Mean Goodbye; An Oral History of The Get Up Kids" Alternative Press Magazine, July 2005]
Coalesce and The Get Up Kids began collaborating more and more, playing shows together and eventually covering each other's songs for a split EP. James recorded keyboard for the band on their Red Letter Day EP, and after its release, joined the band full-time. After the release of the band's second album Something to Write Home About, The Get Up Kids began receiving much greater national attention.
In order to capitalize off of the success of Something to Write Home About, as well as bridge the gap between their next album, the band released their B-sides and rarities collection Eudora in 2000. This also included a re-make of A Newfound Interest in Massachusetts, re-written to place a much heavier emphasis on the piano.
In 2002, the band released their third studio album, On a Wire, produced by Scott Litt. The album was a major departure from the band's previous, poppier sound, and struggled sales-wise as a result.
In 2004, the band released their fourth album Guilt Show. The album was met with a much warmer reception than On a Wire, but there was a great deal of tension between the band mates during their world tour supporting the release. Lead singer Matt Pryor, whose wife had recently given birth, wanted to spend more time at home. At one stop in Australia, the band broke up before deciding to finish the tour. However, they decided that they would do one final farewell tour before going their separate ways for good.
Around the beginning of their final tour, the band released Live! @ The Granada Theater, their first live album. The album was recorded at the Granada Theater in Lawrence, Kansas at the band's tenth-anniversary show.
On July 2, 2005 the band played their final show at The Uptown Theater in Kansas City, Missouri.On August 28, 2008 James announced there will be a reunion tour in 2009.

Reggie and the Full Effect

After playing with The Get Up Kids for a while, James began to write some of his own songs. However, he didn't feel as though they fit with the distinct style of The Get Up Kids, so with the assistance of bandmate Matt Pryor, he recorded Greatest Hits 1984-1987, releasing it on Vagrant Records in 1998 under the name Reggie and the Full Effect. [ [http://www.vagrant.com/artist/index/21 Reggie And The Full Effect | Vagrant Records ] ] He continued to write songs, finally releasing his second album Promotional Copy two years later.
In 2003, he released a third album entitled Under the Tray. After this album released, his marriage to his first wife Megan began to break down. He was soon involved in a bitter divorce, much of which inspired his fourth album Songs Not to Get Married To, which he was writing and recording during the divorce. [ [http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/reggie_the_full_effect/artist.jhtml Reggie & The Full Effect | Music Artist | Videos, News, Photos & Ringtones | MTV ] ] After The Get Up Kids split up in the summer of 2005, James began touring with the likes of New Found Glory and My Chemical Romance as their touring keyboardist. Slowly, this started to take more time away from Reggie and the Full Effect.
However, 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, was produced by Sean Beavan with tracks also done by Paul Grey from Slipknot and was released on June 17, 2008 through Vagrant Records [ [http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=310500 Reggie and the Full Effect Album Details - News Article - AbsolutePunk.net ] ]

Personalities

On the various Reggie albums, James has created a series of different personas that appear as "guests" on the album. One of these personalities is "Klaus", the frontman for the fictional Finnish metal band Common Denominator. There have been three Common Denominator songs on Reggie and the Full Effect albums; "Dwarf Invasion" on Promotional Copy, "Linkin' Verbs" on Under the Tray, and "Deathnotronic" on Songs Not to Get Married To.The other personality present on many of his albums is "Fluxuation", a British techno-pop star. His credits include "Gloves" on Promotional Copy, "Mood 4 LUV" on Under the Tray, and "Love Reality" on Songs Not to Get Married To. As well as Hungry bear who James says no longer touring due to getting married and having 3 bear cubs.

Other bands

*After The Get Up Kids separated in 2005, James became the touring keyboardist for New Found Glory. He had previously helped write and record keyboard parts for their 2004 album Catalyst.
*In 2007, he became the touring keyboardist for My Chemical Romance. In 2007, My Chemical Romance bassist Mikey Way married his fiancée Alicia Simmons. James was ordained a priest in order to perform the ceremony. It was also announced that James would be joining the band as their official keyboardist, but this was proven false in an interview with James after the release of his latest album.
* On Monday June 30, 2008 in an interview with Lawrence.com, James Dewees said " [he is] playing drums in a new band called Leathermouth [with] a bunch of dudes from New Jersey. Their drummer quit... I've been rehearsing with them a lot and I like it a lot." Leathermouth is currently on Tour with Reggie and the Full Effect, with James on drums. Likekwise, the band's guitarist Frank Iero (also from My Chemical Romance) has played bass for Reggie and the Full Effect at recent live shows.cite news | first=Richard | last=Gintowt| coauthors=James Dewees | title=Lawerence.com | date=2008-06-30 | publisher= | url =http://www.lawrence.com/news/2008/jun/30/reggie/ | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2008-07-09 | language = ]

Discography

With Coalesce

*Give Them Rope (1998)
*Functioning on Impatience (1998)

With The Get Up Kids

*Red Letter Day EP (1999)
*Something to Write Home About (1999)
*Eudora (2000)
*On a Wire (2002)
*Guilt Show (2004)
*Live! @ The Granada Theater (2005)

With Reggie and the Full Effect

*Greatest Hits 1984-1987 (1998)
*Promotional Copy (2000)
*Under the Tray (2003)
*Songs Not to Get Married To (2005)
* (2008)

With New Found Glory

*Catalyst (2004)

With My Chemical Romance

*The Black Parade Is Dead! (2008)

References