Self-explanatory note from the band above. My rant will follow below:
After several line-ups changes over the years, and a big announcement in June saying that members Andy Mrotek (drums) and Michael Guy Chislett (guitar) would be leaving, TAI has finally called it quits. This marks the end of the majority of Decaydance / Fueled By Ramen bands as we know them For example, Fall Out Boy is on indefinite hiatus, Panic[!] At the Disco split in two and is a little indecisive on its name's punctuation, Gym Class Heroes is going strong but not without a little bit of spotlight stolen by "Travie" McCoy (he too, used to be known by a slightly different name) and a little bit of selling out with Adam Levine on their current record.
Six of the eleven acts listed on the Decaydance page of Artists (as of 10/8/2011) are acts that have broken up or ceased creating music. Some kind of domino effect is going on here, and at this point, past fans probably don't care because they've been strung along, promised new albums for far too long. Pete Wentz no longer has the magic touch and Fueled By Ramen has been commonly known as an entity within Atlantic Records for quite some time now. The number of people who blindingly join the bandwagon of whatever bands sign to the label is dwindlingly fast. I mostly blame their personal lives - these artists are growing up and while they once were all some sort of circle of friends, they now have different musical tastes and lifestyles (for example, William Beckett from TAI has a daughter) and they don't have that united front of bands on the cutting edge of popular rock music (if that isn't an oxymoron) anymore.
I'll miss The Academy Is..., but more so, I already miss the days when the majority of my favorite bands consisted of members who were all alive and together and able to be seen in concert.
Vote for Northwest School of the Arts (Charlotte, NC) as the recipient of Glee's grant for school music programs! They really deserve it, plus they are part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District which absolutely is a mess and doesn't fund them enough.
