Prolific Lawrence, Kansas-based singer, songwriter, and guitarist Matt Pryor began his music career in 1994 with the ska-punk outfit Secret Decoder Ring, but it would only be a year later that he would form the band that would come to define him, the Get Up Kids. One of the premier second wave emo rock outfits of the mid-'90s/early 2000s, the group released five acclaimed studio albums before going on hiatus in 2012. During his time with the Get Up Kids, Pryor began issuing solo material under the moniker the New Amsterdams. He has released a pair of children's albums under the name the Terrible Twos, and numerous solo recordings under his own name, including Confidence Man (2008), May Day (2012), and Wrist Slitter (2013). Nine Forty Live, an intimate live concert recorded at the Lawrence Arts Center in Lawrence, Kansas, arrived the following year. Self-produced and released on the Equal Vision label, Pryor's fifth solo LP, Memento Mori, arrived in February 2017, followed by a U.S. tour. ~ James Christopher Monger