The Get Up Kids are one of the principal innovators of emo music, and they did it without a single strand of flat-ironed hair or a hint of guyliner.

The fact that emo music has turned into more of a fashion style than a genre isn’t lost on the band’s guitarist, Jim Suptic.

“It’s part of the machine, and that’s kind of what it is now. It’s like hair metal,” he says. “It’s funny because that’s what people now think of it.”

But back when the Kansas City quintet — with Suptic, Matt Pryor (guitar and vocals), Ryan Pope (bass), Robert Pope (drums) and James Dewees (keyboards) — were playing their music in the late 1990s, people didn’t know what to think of it.

They were playing punk riffs with ample amounts of energy, but those riffs also contained infectious melody. The lyrics were heartfelt and full of naked emotion. They initially found themselves opening for a lot of pop-punk bands on tour, and many of the people who saw the Kids were hearing a style of music for the first time, whether they knew it or not.

“The kids didn’t know what to really think,” Suptic says. “These kids would see us and be like, ‘Well, they were loud and fast ... But this doesn’t sound like Green Day.’”

Before the bandmates’ breakup in 2005, they released four studio albums and numerous EPs, but their 1999 release “Something To Write Home About” has a special place in the hearts of the band members and their fans. It was their breakthrough album, their biggest seller and what lead to them opening to acts like Weezer and Green Day before headlining gigs of their own. As The Get Up Kids gained in popularity and influence, Suptic started to notice something about the bands he shared the stage with.

“The more bands that would open for us started sounding like our band,” he says. “It was kind of strange slowly seeing that transition.”

Even though members of the band pursued their own musical projects during their hiatus, they were all conscious that the 10th anniversary of “Something To Write Home About” was approaching. They decided to reunite for a couple gigs, including one Nov. 16, 2008 at the Record Bar. What was supposed to be a surprise show didn’t turn out that way thanks to Internet rumors and Dewees’ subtle hints at a reunion show.

The Record Bar performance was a rare chance to see the band play the album front-to-back, and now that its members are headlining the Bamboozle festival in New Jersey and the Groezrock festival in Belgium, it’s clear that plenty of people still think the Kids are all right.

“I don’t think it’s a mystery ... We just have some die-hard fans,” Suptic says. “I think we were an important band to a lot of people at a certain time in their lives.”

They will perform “Something To Write Home About” again in its entirety at their show at 8 p.m. March 13 at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, Kan. The show will be recorded for a live DVD that will accompany the re-release of the album in fall 2009 and feature other tracks from the Kids’ catalogue. Given that Suptic contemplated giving up music all together following the group’s breakup, he feels privileged to know he and his bandmates can do it all again.

“You know, it’s great. It’s really awesome. After kind of being away from it, I’m really going to appreciate it more,” he says. “It’s kind of nice to get a second chance.”