You Know Us Too Well

### *Maybe We Should Take A Break?*

*You Know Us Too Well* is the sixth studio album by *The Dropouts,* released on July 1st, 2000. The album features a new line up after the band had split up after *Here's To You,* besides Nick Barnett who still fills the role of lead singer and lead guitarist. The album came into existence after Nick was contacted by Kasey Williams, the singer that the album *Price For Popularity* was about. She asked if he wanted to collab, and Nick thought about bringing *The Dropouts* back, as he never felt comfortable releasing music under his own name. Together they wrote the song *I Know You Too Well To Like You Anymore*, which is where the album name originated from. After contacting the previous members of the band, and finding that none of them could come back due to scheduling issues or having their own music and careers to focus on, but all had given Nick approval to continue *The Dropouts* band. In their place, Nick invited musicians he had met during the hiatus of his band to fill the roles of the new members. This included Chris O'Brian, Alex Kuzmack, and Miles Gonzalez. The album reaches back to the idea that *Party Down!* had been written around, having it be almost an introduction to the new version of the band, and with no easily cohesive story to the album.

## Planning Stages

*You Know Us Too Well* started pre-production late in 1999, when Nick brought up the idea of wanting to bring *The Dropouts* back after she approached him to collab. She told him that he should do it, as Nick hadn't done much musically since the band broke up, knowing he wasn't the type to pursue a solo career. After writing *I Know You Too Well To Like You Anymore* with Kasey Williams, they had to get a band to be able to finish the song, which is when Chris O'Brian, Alex Kuzmack, and Miles Gonzalez were brought on. It was decided that the album would be an introductory type album like *Party Down!* as they didn't know what their sound would be like now that almost the entire original lineup was gone, save for Nick.

The album name *You Know Us Too Well* was decided as a play on the first song's name, but instead talking to the audience as they had to now get to know an entirely new cast of band members. To help with the album, producer Christian Germain was brought on, introduced to Nick by Kasey. Kasey Williams also stayed around to help finish the album serving as a second producer on the project.

## Production

*You Know Us Too Well* started production on October 28th, 1999. As a way to make sure the spirit of the band stayed with the new line up, a few songs from *Cheer Up!* were again used on this album, this time rearranged and featuring the vocals of the new members, mostly Chris O'Brian, who served as the main backup vocalist, taking the place of Scott Wilson. The songs included were *Good Thing,* working as an almost meta song where the meaning of it's place on the album was Nick not wanting to see his band really end, *What Are Friends For,* using it as a way to poke fun at the previous line up of members for not being able to make it back to the band, but all in good fun, and finally *Somebody Loved Me,* used again as a meta type song, referring to their fanbase who he wasn't sure would still be around for a new album after disbanding.

Besides *I Know You Too Well..,* the other original songs written for *You Know Us Too Well* include *Keep Fishin'*, written by Nick Barnett which is on the surface about a relationship, but underneath keeps the theme of meta songs, and is about him telling fans to move on if they are really done with the band, and not stick around to harass them.

*My Own Worst Enemy* was written primarily by Chris O'Brian, wanting to feature a more personal song, the types of songs he enjoyed the most from when he listened to old albums by the band he was now in. The song is about a hard break up he had gone through, that he blamed himself entirely for, and then picked apart all the little things in his life.

*Eulogy For A Rock Band* again continues the same meta theme, this time being much more direct than the rest of the songs Nick Barnett had written, serving as what it would be like if they held a funeral for *The Dropouts.*

*All I Want is More* walks the same lines as *Keep Fishin',* with lyrics that make the song seem like it's about a relationship, but digging deeper is about Nick Barnett making fun of himself for bringing his band back after a big send off.

*House of 1982 Built Like A Ship* was written in cooperation between Nick Barnett, Chris O'Brian, and Kasey Williams, which features nonsensical lyrics that harken back to how *Dope Nose* was written, but with lyrics that seem deep and profound when spoken out loud, but really don't mean anything.

And finally *Memories* was written by Nick Barnett, reminiscing on what it was like when the band originally started and his shows and tours with the original lineup.

With Christian Germain and Kasey Williams as the producers of the album, many of the songs take on a more pop like sound, as that was the type of music the pair usually made and produced, but they knew what the original *Dropouts* sound was like, and tried to modernize it for a new audience - keeping lots of the ska sound in songs like *All I Want Is More* and the three songs that came from *Cheer Up!*, while songs like *Memories* and *My Own Worst Enemy* lean into new sounds that sound more like what was playing on the radio at the time.

## The Road to *You Know Us Too Well*

To fit the spirit of the band, only three singles were released from *You Know Us Too Well,* starting with the song that started the whole revitalization of the band, *I Know You Too Well To Like You Anymore,* released on January 1st, 2000 when Nick Barnett and the new lineup of the band revealed themselves at a New Year's show that Kasey Williams was headlining at, announcing that the band was coming back with a new album set to release that year. The show introduced a choreographed dance for both the single and the song *She Has A Girlfriend Now*, which was performed after debuting the single to show people it was the same band. The single was received with general excitement, however it was heavily censored at the show due to the nature of the New Years event, cutting out the entire last verse of the song, leaving a surprise for when the song was officially released later the same day. Many enjoyed the song, critics praising it for modernizing the old Dropouts sound, while many found some of the lyrics in poor taste, as well as lot of Kasey's fans not taking a liking to it do to her audience having a younger age range than that of *The Dropouts*. Either way, the single put the band back on the board, getting people excited although many old fans were apprehensive about the new lineup after how tightly knit the original was.

The second single released was *My Own Worst Enemy,* released on Saint Patrick's Day, 2000. The single was debuted live on *The Talkie McTalkerson Show,* having the band make it's return to the show for it's Saint Patrick's Day special, since Talkie and Nick had become good friends for everything he had done for the band, playing *My Own Worst Enemy* because Chris wrote the song, and was part Irish. The song was released to universal praise, critics gave nothing but positive reviews to the song, but fans felt as though something didn't feel quite right about the song, easily being able to tell it wasn't written by Nick, but it rather felt like a song that would be released by a different band, thanks in part to the poppy production that the song had along with it. The name of the album was also announced during this show.

The final single released for *You Know Us Too Well* was oddly enough *Memories* despite it being the closer to the album. Coming out on June 12th, 2000, the song was released alongside a music video, which used old footage from the original tenure of *The Dropouts,* cutting between that footage and footage of the new line up performing the song. Critics again gave positive reviews, while fans found the song to be too into the pop style, sounding like a completely different band and not liking the music video using footage of the original band, thinking they were trying to cash in on nostalgia, making them nervous for the future of the band.

## Reception

*You Know Us Too Well* was officially released on July 1st, 2000 - a different time frame than the usual drops for the band before the broke up, decided on by Christian Germain, who wanted to give the album a summertime release, thinking the songs lended themselves well to the summertime weather. The album was released to positive reviews, but there seemed to be a consensus that something didn't seem quite right about it, there was a piece of the spirit of the band that was missing, not making it the smash return hit that they were hoping it would be. The album was overall successful, with certain songs making it into the "Dropouts Hall Of Fame", like *I Know You Too Well To Like You Anymore, Keep Fishin'* and *My Own Worst Enemy.* Fans didn't enjoy the inclusion of so many songs from *Cheer Up!*, again feeling like it was a cash in on nostalgia.

The band felt the negative response, but met it with understanding as they noticed the difference in just the comparison of *You Know Us Too Well* compared to *Here's To You.* The decision was made that they would move forward under a new name, creating the band *California Kids,* which served more as a comedy band and embraced the newer sounds that were found on *You Know Us Too Well,* without the legacy of Nick's previous band to weigh it down. This resulted in yet again another hiatus from the band.

## Tracklist

1. *I Know You Too Well To Like You Anymore -* Written by Nick Barnett and Kasey Williams
2. *Keep Fishin' -* Written by Nick Barnett
3. *Somebody Loved Me -* Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
4. *Good Thing -* Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
5. *What Are Friends For -* Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
6. *My Own Worst Enemy -* Written by Chris O'Brian
7. *Eulogy For A Rock Band -* Written by Nick Barnett
8. *All I Want Is More -* Written by Nick Barnett
9. *House of 1982 Built Like A Ship -* Written by Nick Barnett, Chris O'Brian and Kasey Williams
10. *Memories -* Written by Nick Barnett

## Fun Facts

- The album's cover art features photos of new and old members of the band in a framed photo set, defaced by Nick Barnett. The order of the words is often misinterpreted as "You Know Too Well Us", which was left because it made Nick laugh.

- The art for the single *My Own Worst Enemy* is a photo of Chris O'Brian's front yard, after his car battery died and they had to move his car to the lawn so that Nick could get out of the driveway.

- Part of the reason the new members of the band were chosen was that they all lived in New York at the time along with Nick, and were able to meet up easily. They were all big fans of Nick and *The Dropouts* previously as well, wanting to join the band when they were younger.

- Kasey Williams, while only producing the one album and understanding what went wrong with it, cites the production of *You Know Us Too Well* to be one of the most fun and rewarding moments of her career. It was the first album she ever produced, which is why she did it along with Chrisitan Germain.

- *Keep Fishin'* later got a music video after the release of the album and before the start of the second hiatus, which featured the band going out and fishing on a lake, performing the song in a small boat, crowded with their instruments and fishing equipment.

## Next Pages in Order:

*California Kids* and the second hiatus

*Spirit Weak*