The Reputation

The Reputation
The Reputation outside the 46th Street subway station in Philadelphia in 2005
Background information
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres	Indie rock
Years active	2001–2006
Labels	Lookout! Records Initial Records
Website	www.reputationmusic.com
Members	Elizabeth Elmore Sean Hulet Greg Mytych Steve Van Horn
Past members	Scott Rosenquist Ben Kane Chad Romanski Matt Espy Joel Root

The Reputation was an indie rock band from Chicago, Illinois. The band was fronted by former Sarge singer-songwriter Elizabeth Elmore, with other positions filled by various members.

The band, which formed while Elmore was attending law school, released two albums between the years of 2001 and 2006, both of which were met with generally positive reviews. The band has toured the United States and the United Kingdom.

Following the disbanding of her old band, Sarge, Elmore enrolled in law school at Northwestern University. She embarked on a series of solo tours between classes, but after growing tired of performing solo Elmore recruited ex-Sarge drummer Russ Horvath and ex-Chisel bassist and law school classmate Chris Norborg to tour with. The group toured together and recorded a five song demo, but after a while Horvath and Norborg were no longer able to tour due to schooling. Elmore recruited friend and ex-Moreno guitarist Sean Hulet, ex-Moreno drummer Scott Rosenquist, and ex-Andiamo bassist Joel Root. The new group completed a tour of the East Coast.

Elmore requested a leave of absence from Northwestern Law School in 2001 to focus on the band. After ex-Nymb drummer Ben Kane replaced the unavailable Rosenquist, the group signed to Initial Records. Kane left the band, and former Sarge drummer Chad Romanski joined the group after several weeks of Elmore begging. The band completed a fall West Coast tour and began recording their debut album with Romanski. The band took on the name The Reputation at this time.

The Reputation, the band's self-titled debut album, was released in 2002 after the band spent much of the fall and winter of 2001 in the recording studio. The majority of the album was recorded in Chicago at Atlas, with the exception of a cover of Elvis Costello's song "Almost Blue," which was recorded with then-Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett on piano and production duties, as well as extra arrangements and recording on other tracks. Elmore, as she did with her work in Sarge, wrote all of the original songs and lyrics, and assisted with the production along with Matt Allison.