The original instagram account is no longer up, but there is a tumblr post detailing some of the allegations of him being a sexual and financial predator, often targeting single mothers. Several women came forward. Link here
Cross post but feel relevant: Drummer from pentimento goes hard into how terrible Reggie was to tour with on this podcast episode.. and also Max Bemis Nickel City Soundtrack Podcast: NCS 142 - Oh F**k (Mike Hansen) on Apple Podcasts Starts around 25 minutes in. Also listen to Hotel Etiquette!
I'll be honest, not defending James at all, but this dude doesn't really outline any abuse. just that James was balls deep in drug addiction, didn't take it very serious, and didn't make this guy feel special on tour or beyond. Just sounds like the guy is bitter that the experience wasn't what he expected and his career didn't end up where he wanted it to while others, who didn't try as hard, did. Just feels weird to hear a guy bitch about alcoholism, drug addiction, and sex workers while there are legitimate problems with the guy.
i know mike personally and pentimento was one of the hardest working band in the scene, they weren't like naturally good-looking dudes either, they had to work for everything. their two full length albums are fantastic, but they never really caught on with the online/tumblr pop punk crowd of the 2010s the way other bands did. they came from the right area but yah never got too big. they toured their asses off thats for sure, we became friends just for all the times they played in Illinois. i think anyone who likes TGUK could get into them if they missed them back in the day, here is a song from each of their albums. i also hope james gets help again. but he has to want to get.
I remember listening to them around the time of that tour he talks about in the podcast but I kinda fell off for whatever reason. Definitely adding them to my playlist watching those videos
yah i definitely revisit their second album i, no longer the most! also look up the into the sea EP, that one is solid as well! all around solid stuff, i didn't know hopeless was looking into them, im curious to know what band they got passed over for!
I listened to the podcast. Definitely seemed like James manipulated and promised them things he didn’t exactly follow through on. I mean I’d bitter too if I was promised a hotel every night and instead I had to deal with a drug addicted asshole who just wanted to get high and have fun with hookers. It is rather odd though since Pentimento did multiple tours as his backing band because I remember them being on both the tour with STD and the tour with Bayside. If it were that bad I’d assume they would have not done multiple tours with him. The story about Max showing him his bank account was rather douchey and further shows how big of an ego maniac Max is.
I mistook the original post as a reply about the allegations directly so I guess I thought the podcast was going to reference the abuse too and I expected a lot worse. But yeah he was definitely an asshole to deal with and that really sucks that it took some momentum from them. That max story is so insane and almost unbelievable if it were anyone but Max.
Random TGUK post... Not counting any of the unreleased material, there are a total of 13 Jim Suptic-led Get Up Kids songs, along with two Matt Pryor-led songs that have at least one full verse/section from Jim (Off The Wagon and Washington Square Park are those songs). Woodson EP (1997) Woodson Off The Wagon Four Minute Mile (1997) Fall Semester Washington Square Park Red Letter Day EP (1999) Forgive and Forget Something To Write Home About (1999) Ten Minutes On A Wire (2002) All That I Know Campfire Kansas Eudora (2001) Beer For Breakfast (The Replacements cover) There Are Rules (2011) Automatic Birmingham Kicker EP (2018) Better This Way I'm Sorry Problems (2019) Now Or Never Waking Up Alone Symphony Of Silence I forgot if I ever mentioned this, but according to Jim (he said it on a podcast that's on Spotify), Blackpool Lights' "Blue Skies" was supposed to not only be a Get Up Kids song, but it was the band's manager's pick to be the first single for Guilt Show. The rest of the band voted against it though. Jim didn't get any of his own songs on Guilt Show.
Interesting it's only this much, I love most of Jim's songs, definitely love Blackpool Lights and I'm glad it became its own band (I've started revisiting their album a lot since like two years back), at the same time the ratio is good enough -- I only feel bad that for years Guilt Show had been my fav TGUK album, and only a few years ago did I notice there's no Jim on vocals at all, summing it up with all the tension and the creation of BL I kinda feel I used to favor their bumpiest record huhh
For what it's worth, Jim plays some sick leads on Guilt Show and clearly he enjoys himself when he is on stage performing some of the songs from it.
I love Jim's TGUK songs and Blackpool Lights, which is why it always feels a bit weird that Guilt Show is my favorite TGUK album.
Do people love Guilt Show due to nostalgic reasons since it's from 2004. I feel like Problems is better than Guilt Show on every level. Lyrics, vocals, instrumentation, etc. Guilt Show is my least favorite TGUK album, but it's still fantastic.
A good question, and it's entirely possible. It's impossible to separate myself from that time and place when it was released, and it certainly informed my listening experience then and I'm sure subconsciously does now. I think Problems is technically a better album and more consistent, but Guilt Show is my favorite specifically due to Sympathy, How Long is Too Long, and The One You Want. Weirdly, Problems did next to nothing for me upon its release. I then revisited it about a year later and wondered what was wrong with me, as it really resonated on the revisit. It's a great album. I've really come around on There Are Rules and revisited On a Wire the other day on vinyl (an album I liked from the jump) and it's just as good as I remembered. I rarely listen to Four Minute Mile and Something to Write Home About these days. I think it's because I just listened to them so much when I was young that I almost got burned out on them, even though they're excellent albums.
I got into the band around 2007, so there's no specific 2004 nostalgia tied up in it. For me, Guilt Show has some of Matt's best songwriting, really neat production, and Ryan and Rob's best rhythm section work. Especially as I've gotten older, the vibe of that album is usually what I'm looking for.
Yeah, Guilt Show has a melancholy undercurrent that really works for me. That carried through to The New Amsterdams' Killed or Cured (specifically Killed; the Cured version never really works for me), which is my favorite from that side project.