Get Disowned

Released: May 5th, 2012

Written & produced by: Hop Along

Genre: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock

Label: Hot Green, Big Scary Monsters, Saddle Creek

Background

At the time, Joe Reinhart had not become an official member of the band- however, Quinlan approached him and asked him to help produce the album.

Quinlan revealed that the record was recorded unconventially, with many songs being worked on actively in the studio with little preperation and certain parts being recorded impulsively.

We came to our friend Joe Reinhart with maybe six songs. Half of them were not really fleshed out. We started recording them immediately, decided we'd figure it out as we went. We demoed a little bit at band practice, but basically just went right for it in the studio, which is maybe why we were able to preserve that sense of urgency on the record, despite all the time it took.

Because of all the instrumental layers created through this process, Quinlan considers some of the tracks to be "strictly studio songs."

Originally, the record was released solely on LP through the label Hot Green, with the CD being released in 2013. The UK & Europe release of the vinyl & CD were published throught Big Scary Monsters on April 8th, 2013.

On March 4th, 2016, the record was republished under Saddle Creek, along with a new cassette version of the album. After a Facebook poll deciding on the color, a blue vinyl pressing was also released.

In a Reddit AMA, Quinlan describes how they created the cover for the album:

[...] for Get Disowned I'd had a crazy idea of making a "window book" of trees, it had 6 panels I think, spent the summer of 2011 drawing them in my hot, stuffy, third story room in West Philly --but we realized soon after how costly it would actually be to execute this cockamamie idea and I was so bummed--it was my brother Mark's (drummer of HA) idea that I just photograph one of the windows, which I did on top of a manilla envelope--at the time I remember being so annoyed with this proposal, but of course he was right and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Theme

All of the tracks on Get Disowned were inspired by Quinlan's life experiences mixed with other's experiences, with some parts inspired by literature they particularly enjoy.

The tracks touch mainly on internal themeing, mostly from Quinlan's own perspective. Quinlan touches on this in another interview:

We're all proud of Get Disowned, but lyrically there's a vagueness to it because I was younger and trying to write from my experience. I feel in some cases, I wasn't quite ready to.

In an interview with RAWK TAWK, Frances and Mark Quinlan reveal that the title of the album came from the recurring theme within the tracks of detatching oneself from one's origin, while still being yourself, and not being ready to move on.

Several tracks also notably tackle the themes of dealing with death for the first time.

We mostly find ways of escaping thinking about it, but I think this album recognizes the impossibility of that. You can't go back, and you can't recreate it. It's a beautiful thing when you get past that. Maybe the next record will be about getting past that, but this record is very much in it and struggling with it. I hope the record addresses living, too; I hope it shows those moments of recognition and clarity.

Tracklist

  1. "Some Grace"
  2. "Tibetan Pop Stars"
  3. "Diamond Mine"
  4. "No Good Al Joad"
  5. "Kids On the Boardwalk"
  6. "Laments"
  7. "Trouble Found Me"
  8. "Sally II"
  9. "Young and Happy!"
  10. "Get Disowned"

Gallery