Who is The Academy Is?- a thread

Before we get into this, it’s important to note a few things.

1. TAI has gone through some line up changes and a name change.
2. Though the lineup has shuffled, the three core members who have remained are William Beckett (lead vocals), Adam Siska aka Sisky (bass), and Mike Carden (rhythm guitar)

Back when William was 17 years old and before TAI was formed, he had a band named Remember Maine with a friend. In 2002, they released a 10 track album named “The Last Place You Look” on LLR Recordings.

Here are some photos of William performing as Remember Maine.

In the meantime, William was busy in Remember Maine, and Mike Carden was across town in a rivaling band named Jodie. Both Sisky and William attended the same high school, Barrington High, while Mike attended a rival high school, Schaumburg High.

Shortly after, Mike’s band Jodie disbanded and he was approached by William to form The Academy in 2003. This lineup consisted of Mike on rhythm guitar, Sisky on bass guitar, William on vocals, AJ LaTrace on lead guitar and Michael DelPrincipe on drums.

Here’s some early The Academy photos, with a 14-15 year old Sisky in the back of the first one.

The five members took to the studio in 2004 to record their first EP simply titled “The Academy”

(The video isn’t the highest quality but it’s something early enough.) The EP was released in 2004 and is available on YouTube!

As fate would have it, Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy heard the EP and was super impressed. The newly named “The Academy Is...” (adding the one word to avoid legal complications with other bands) we’re signed to Fueled by Ramen.

In the summer of 2004, The Academy Is went on tour with FOB. After the tour, they went into the studio to record their first full length, Almost Here. LaTrace was replaced by Tom Conrad (lead guitar/backing vocals) and DelPrincipe was replaced by Andy Mrotek (drums)

This is the start of the Academy Is lineup that many early fans are familiar with.
(Left to right in the first picture)
Mike Carden
Tom Conrad
William Beckett
Andy “The Butcher” Mrotek
Adam “Sisky” Siska

After recording Almost Here, TAI went on tour again, this time following Matchbook Romance, Motion City Soundtrack, Armor for Sleep, Fall Out Boy and Midtown (keep this name in mind later if you intend to read my Cobra Starship thread.)

Their first album, Almost Here was released February 8th, 2005. The album had three singles, Checkmarks, Slow Down and The Phrase that Pays. All three singles have music videos but this one is for The Phrase That Pays.

The summer of 2005 found TAI on their first Warped Tour, (7/26-8/7) alongside bands such as My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Simple Plan, and many more.

Here’s an interview that William did at Warped ‘05.

After their 2005 Warped run, TAI and P!ATD embarked on a sold out UK tour in January 2006. The Ambitious Ones and Smoking Guns tour. Around this tour is also when their web series, TAITV started up.

After this little UK tour, both bands came back to the states and took on the Truckstops and Statelines tour, alongside Acceptance and Hellogoodbye. Do with these photos what you wish.

I also believe this is around the time where I Write Sins Not Tragedies started gaining popularity and people would come see Panic then leave right as TAI would come on :/

While on this tour, TAI released an acoustic album titled “From the Carpet” featuring an acoustic The Phrase That Pays, a cover of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero” and The Fever. Also a beautiful piano version of Down and Out is on, which I highly suggest listening to.

Warped 2006 is where things start really picking up for TAI. (Cred:patriciandotcom on ig) They were starting to gain more of a following.

Warped Tour 2006, TAI was upgraded to a main act and placed on the Hurley Stage or the Teddy Bear Stage. They toured with bands such as Paramore, All Time Low, A Static Lullabye, etc

Here’s where things get interesting. TAI gets off full summer of Warped Tour, they had started writing new songs for their second album which would come in 2007. In October of 2006, they announced that Tom Conrad and the band had parted ways.

Here to replace Tom Conrad came Michael Guy Chislett, an Australian guitar player who was in a few bands with TAI’s producer Butch Walker.

The band never explicitly said why Conrad had left, but in this interview with Mike Carden, he kinda opened up about it. Saying how Conrad was just a “touring member” because he joined after Almost Here was recorded and that’s the relationship they had http://www.bullz-eye.com/music/interviews/2007/the_academy_is.htm

With Conrad gone, here you have Michael Guy Chislett. This is the lineup that will stay until their disbandment in 2011. (Chislett is pictured all the way to the left)

Mike actually called Chislett, having known him previously from a music video shoot and asked him to come out to LA where they were recording their second album. Chislett comes to LA, likes the stuff that William and Mike are writing,does guitar stuff for second album, joins them

Their sophomore effort, Santi, was announced and the first single to hit the air was “We’ve Got a Big Mess on Our Hands.” Many in the TAI fandom refer to it as the most chaotic song because...well...listen and see for yourself.

In this music video, William Beckett’s “alter ego” a more sinister version of himself climbs out of the mirror and effectively goes out of his way to destroy everything. If you look closely, you see a cameo by Pete Wentz. His cameo ties Big Mess and Thnks Fr Th Mmrs together.

Big Mess was released on March 13th as a single on a 7 inch record which surprised many, being it was the age of iPods and CDs gaining more popularity. You can find them floating around eBay or Discogs.

Less than a month later on March 27th, Santi was available to stream and then April 3rd, it was released by FBR for purchase.

The original title for Santi was working to be “Chop Chop” which later was a song titled on the album. When asked about Santi, William gave a backstory about how it came to be.

"Adam(Sisky)and I went to the same high school, and there was this dude named Josh Santiago who we went to school with. I was doing a solo project at the time, and I was listening to different music than most people,stuff like The Get Up Kids, The Promise Ring and Jimmy Eat World

and people there just didn't get me or what I was like. So this one guy in particular, Josh Santiago, gave me a hell of a time, like busted my chops and called me negative names like "f*g" and stuff. Anyway, he had a Dave Matthews cover band called Santi, because his name was

Santiago and he's just that kind of guy. So we started saying Santi as everything that wasn't him – everything that was positive, just because he was such a negative dude and such a terrible person. So we started saying santi as something funny or cool, kinda like "cheers" or we

say it as a greeting, like, 'Whats up, Santi?' So it's a word we've been using for a long time and when it came time to name the record we listened to it and went like, 'Santi!' – it always had to be the name."

From May to July of 2007, The Academy Is, Cobra Starship, +44, Hey Monday and Paul Wall supported Fall Out Boy on the Honda Civic Tour.

During the 2007 supporting tour, another single for the album was released. Everything We Had, a slower song that is sure to make you cry if it catches you on the wrong day.

In this music video, it shows everything going backwards in time, set at a birthday party to which he (William) has not been invited to.

Then in early September, TAI went on another headlining tour named Sleeping with Giants. This time Armor for Sleep, The Rocket Summer, and Sherwood. The Butcher actually made the posters for the tour, he’s such a talented dude.

This is also another poster

All of the Sleeping with Giants tour was documented in the second season of TAITV. It’s very entertaining, I suggest watching all of them in a row without stopping for hours on end. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEB39C62338DAA4E6

During the second season, TAI released 4 tour music videos for Same Blood, Sleeping with Giants, 40 Steps, and Neighbors. All of the MV were made using videos complied from various tours that year

Santi, although a fan favorite now, wasn’t generally well received by critics and fans then, with many comparing it to Almost Here and saying they were losing touch. With Rolling Stone giving them two and a half stars

I forgot to add that Cobra Starship joined the Sleeping with Giants tour about halfway through. CS and TAI had one of the best band relationships in the scene at the time. They did mostly everything together. Literally.

After getting off the Sleeping with Giants tour, TAI stayed silent from November until March in regards to touring. It was announced that they would be going on the 2008 Warped Tour with Cobra Starship, Gym Class Heroes, Mayday Parade, Pierce The Veil and Say Anything.

Season 3 of TAITV covers Warped Tour and the ins and outs of making their third album, Fast Times At Barrington High, which would be released 2 days after Warped Tour finished.

Throughout the entire Warped summer, TAI played new tracks from the album and allowed fans to hear it at the Santi’s Little Helpers tent. Here’s a laminate from the tour tent

The first single to be released off the new album was About a Girl. This is the most popular TAI song that was released. It was their first song to reach the charts at 88 on the Billboard 100.

Fast Times at Barrington High, taking the name from the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High and the high school Sisky and William attended, Barrington High, was released on August 19th, 2008. (10 years on Sunday :,))

The next single was Summer Hair= Forever Young. This song is one of my favorite music videos and not to mention it has great summer vibes.

The fall after FTABH was released, TAI went on a headlining tour with We The Kings, Carolina Liar and Hey Monday, named Bill and Trav’s Bogus Journey Tour.

Season 3 of TAITV, available on Youtube, documents this tour and the shenanigans that went on within it.

After this tour, TAI co-headlined the 2009 AP Fall Ball. This was also the time that everyone cut their hair. William and Mike both lost their signature hair, more William than Mike. Also Sisky went bald.

RIP the hair. It will live on in our hearts.

In 2009, TAI released Lost In Pacific Time; the AP/EP. This 5 song ep includes New York (Saint in The City), arguably one of the most heartbreaking songs that TAI recorded.

Not much happened with TAI between 2009-2011,except the fact that Mrotek and Chislett left the band. It was said that the original three members were going to head back into the studio to write a new album. These are some of the promo pictures that were taken. Spot the short hair

Shortly after this announcement was made, the band decided to disband much to the dismay of fans in October of 2011.

Everyone after TAI had their own solo careers/bands etc. William released EPs, Sisky joined Carly Rae Jepsen as her touring bassist, Michael Gug Chislett rejoined Christian band Hillsong United, Mrotek a local band and Carden started The Artist Group with Gabe Saporta

In 2015, after many rumors, William made an announcement that for the 10 year anniversary of Almost Here, the band would be playing it in its entirety at Riot Fest that September. Minus Tom Conrad and Michael Guy Chislett

For these shows, TAI picked up Ian Crawford, who is known for his work in Panic! At the Disco the most.

After Riot Fest, TAI went on a 10 year anniversary tour for Almost Here, playing all actoss America until December 29th, 2015.

After this tour, they officially disbanded and continued in their own solo careers. 2003-2015

Some bonus content!!
William and Mike were in the music video for a Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More Touch Me. William was the head Dandy while Mike accompanied him.

William has been featured on many FOB songs, including Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year, he sings the part of “the best part of believe is the lie...” He has also been featured on What a Catch, Donnie. Singing ”Growing up, growing up.”

Mike Carden could of well been the 5th member of FOB. He grew up with them and essentially turned down an invite to be in the band.

William was also featured on Cobra Starship’s hit single, Snakes on a Plane. Which he refuses to play anymore but it’s ok we still love him