“We’ve Only Just Begun” by Run Kid Run, Monday, November 20, 2023

In 1996, David Josiah Curtis and friends formed a punk band called Side Walk Slam. The Southern Illinois-based band released an independent record, Rock Anthems from the Midwest, in 1999 before signing to a small label, Boot to Head Records, and releasing Two Steps Forward, Five Steps Back the next year. Then in 2001, the band signed with Tooth & Nail Records and released three records between 2001 and 2003. Little by little, the bare-bones punk rock band started incorporating more and more production on their records. By their 2003 record, And We Drive, the band even included a piano. It was after releasing And We Drive, that the band decided that Side Walk Slam had strayed from their Punk Rock sound so much that they decided to change their name, rebranding with a new sound and retiring the expectations that the band would sound a particular way. 

YOU’LL HAVE YOUR UPS AND DOWNS. Run Kid Run released their debut record This Is Who We Are three years after Side Walk Slam released their final album. The three years between releases was a long period compared to the way that Side Walk Slam grinded out a record a year between 1999 and 2003. The band recorded their debut record with James Paul Wisner, who had produced Further Seems Forever, Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory, and Underoath. The new sound of Run Kid Run was poppy and singable. The band’s video for “We’ve Only Just Begun” was even featured in American Eagle stores. Was this the band’s big break as Relient K’s video for “Sadie Hawkins Dance” was played in Abercrombie and Fitch stores? 

YOU’VE GOT YOUR DESTINATION. Run Kid Run fully embraced the Christian pop genre with their second record, 2008’s Love at the Core. Their piano ballad “Freedom” shows how far the band went from their punk rock roots. On the Labeled Podcast, lead singer David Josiah Curtis talked about their sophomore album being the band’s peak and their inability to follow up the record because of the seismic change in the Christian music industry between their second and third record, 2011’s Patterns. He talked about touring with Hawk Nelson and thinking about seeing that band as a model of success in the Christian music industry—headlining church shows, and touring on a bus. But success is a model based on inequality, and simply putting in the time in the music industry doesn’t necessarily equate to success. Run Kid Run disappeared after their third record. Curtis took a part-time position at a church, and the other band members started taking more time with their families. The band played a few one-off shows, but ultimately haven’t come back with a full-length since Patterns. However, in 2022, the band reunited, not as Run Kid Run, but as Side Walk Slam to play the Audiofeed festival in their home of Illinois. Curtis explained that the band felt free to play both Side Walk Slam and Run Kid Run songs under their original moniker. Punk Rock purists just have to put aside the band’s love for a catchy melody.

Read the lyrics on Genius.