Matt Pryor
Red Letter Days
Published by WashedUp Books
February 02, 2024
Matt Pryor is the frontman for the band The Get Up Kids, who made a name for themselves in the early to mid decade at the height of the emo craze. Red Letter Days it's his memoirs. But not really.
Red Letter Days purported to be Pryor's “first novel.” It is taken from journal entries from 1990-2000 and is therefore more of a tour diary of the early days of Pryor's band. The book is a “novel” to the extent that Pryor avoids naming names or providing dates or much context for the travels he chronicles in the book's relatively short chapters. The problem is, this conceit doesn't give Pryor anonymity. Those who collect Red Letter Days will no doubt be fans of Pryor and his bands, and making readers play connect the dots with his story can be frustrating. And yet, of itself, if one could separate the author from the writing, Red Letter Days it can easily become stagnant. One feels that both the casual reader and Get Up Kids fan would be happier with a little more meat on the bone, so to speak.
Pryor shares plenty of anecdotes about the present and his days as a musician struggling desperately to avoid (unsuccessfully, mind you) the “emo” label that can be revelatory for die-hard fans. But the book doesn't seem to break through in the way Pryor intends.
Author Rating: 5.5/10
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