Chicago pop punk outfit
the Academy Is... burst onto the scene in the early 2000s and quickly established themselves on the touring circuit with their trio of albums
Almost Here (2005),
Santi (2007), and
Fast Times at Barrington High (2008). At the peak of their popularity, they decided to go their separate ways and disbanded in 2011. In 2015, the group briefly reunited for the tenth anniversary of their debut.
Formerly in rival bands on the Chicago local scene, guitarist Mike Carden and vocalist
William Beckett came together in 2003 to mark the beginning of emo-pop outfit
the Academy Is... (originally named "
the Academy"). Naming influences from
U2 to
Weezer to
Pink Floyd, the duo added bassist
Adam Siska (
Beckett's classmate from high school), along with a second guitarist and drummer, to record 2004's The Academy EP for hometown label LLR Recordings. As luck would have it, fellow Chicagoan
Pete Wentz (
Fall Out Boy) heard the release and brought the band to the attention of his current label, which resulted in an offer from Gainesville's Fueled by Ramen. Six months after Carden and
Beckett set to work writing their full-length debut, the band headed to Florida to record.
A few lineup changes arrived in 2004, as guitarist/vocalist Tom Conrad and drummer
Andy Mrotek climbed aboard as permanent members of the group. Relentless touring with the likes of
Fall Out Boy,
Something Corporate,
Midtown, and
Armor for Sleep steadily built a devoted audience around the country before the band's well-received label debut,
Almost Here, arrived in February 2005. Gigs continued at a frantic pace in support on the album, and
the Academy Is... released the six-song acoustic EP
From the Carpet in early 2006. The digital release contained three new songs (including a cover of
John Lennon's "Working Class Hero") and acoustic versions of tracks from
Almost Here.
Following a summer spent on the road with the Warped Tour, the guys parted ways with Conrad in the fall of 2006 (replaced by guitarist
Michael Guy Chislett) and began writing new material back in Chicago.
The Academy Is... eventually entered a California studio with famed producer
Butch Walker (
All-American Rejects,
Hot Hot Heat) to record what would become their sophomore effort,
Santi, which ultimately arrived in early April 2007.
Fast Times at Barrington High, a reference to the school that
Beckett and
Siska attended as teenagers (as well as a nod to the '80s film Fast Times at Ridgemont High), arrived the following year. Their highest charting effort to date, it landed in the Top 20 on the Billboard 200. They released
Lost in Pacific Time: The AP/EP in 2009, touring with
blink-182 that same month.
After a couple years of silence, the band returned in 2011 to announce that they were breaking up. Individual members went on to pursue their own careers, reuniting in 2015 for a brief anniversary tour of
Almost Here. ~ Corey Apar & Neil Z. Yeung