It had been 15 years since Steve Holmes was last on stage with American Football.

Fifteen years ago, no one sang his band’s songs.

Fifteen years ago, no one believed American Football had a future—not even the band, who decided during the recording of its debut album that they’d quit once it was finished and never played a show in support of it once it was released.

Fifteen years ago, few people cared.

But when Holmes joined frontman Mike Kinsella and drummer Steve Lamos on stage at The Beat Kitchen in Chicago for an unannounced show in August—the band’s first live performance since 1999—it became clear just how much had changed in that time.

“Hearing an entire audience sing along to every song is a new experience for me,” said Holmes, who could be seen smiling as hundreds watched the band’s set in Chicago. “That was my first time on stage in 10 years, so it was nice to get one rep under my belt before playing in front of a couple thousand people at Pygmalion.”

American Football’s headlining set at this year’s Pygmalion Music Festival marks one of the most iconic moments in the Champaign-Urbana music scene’s history. Since releasing its only full-length album in 1999, the band has slowly gathered a cult following in the emo scene and turned into one of the CU’s most recognizable names, alongside the likes of REO Speedwagon, HUM and Braid—something even Holmes finds strange today.

“This band that was basically unknown at the time has somehow managed to amass a larger following than most of the other bands from the scene that were much more popular,” Holmes said. “I don’t really know what to make of it. It’s strange and flattering. I guess I’m just glad that it happened while we’re still young enough to appreciate it and go play some shows.”

The band may still be young enough to play shows, but the middle-aged musicians have definitely grown up: Now, Holmes is a suburban businessman. Lamos is a writing professor in Boulder, Co., and although Kinsella is still a touring musician, his time on the road with his projects Owen and Joan of Arc is limited with his family at home.

It’s hard to imagine the same voices that have spoken for awkward teenagers over the past 15 years aren’t the same University of Illinois students they were when unknowingly cementing their legacy to CD in 1999, when their only goal was to document the music they had made together and move on.

Fifteen years ago, American Football’s record had mediocre sales. Now, it’s the top-selling album at Error Records in Urbana, Ill.—American Football’s hometown—and is one of the top-selling releases in Polyvinyl Record Co.’s discography, which includes more than 300 releases in 18 years of the label’s existence.

It all started with a box of old cassettes

There was no plan for American Football to play any shows when Polyvinyl (the band’s label) began to work on a reissue in 2012. Holmes found a box of cassettes while cleaning his home and mailed them to Matt Lunsford, the founder of Polyvinyl Record Co. in Champaign, who first released the album back when the label was still run out of his home in Danville, Ill.

Inside the box, Lunsford found recordings of what came to be the bonus tracks on American Football’s 2014 reissue of their self-titled debut. When Polyvinyl announced the release in March, there was so much traffic on the label’s website that it crashed for hours.

“We were freaking out because we had worked so hard to make sure everything would go off smoothly, but it was still more overwhelming than we thought,” Lunsford said. “It was such a cool thing to watch because it was a record that we put out and loved and believed in years ago, and even though it wasn’t something at the time that became a hugely successful record, it just slowly—one step at a time—grew and became a record that people really respect.”

Holmes said offers for shows began to flood into Kinsella’s booking agent after announcing the reissue. The band has always been suggested to reunite, even by Pygmalion founder Seth Fein, whose persistent joking with Kinsella about playing a show finally came to fruition when he emailed Kinsella’s management with an offer after Polyvinyl label manager Seth Hubbard urged him to do so.

“It’s a big deal for a guy like me, having performed in bands here and lived here my whole life, and been a part of the ‘scene’ for almost 20 years now,” Fein said. “American Football has always been one of my favorite ‘local’ bands.”

But what was once just a “local” band playing that only played a handful of basement shows in CU is now considered one of the most legendary names in emo’s recent history, selling out a 40,000 square foot Webster Hall in a matter of minutes. Twice, American Football had to add dates in New York City due to the high demand for tickets.

“Ironically, had we stayed together and toured for a couple years and put out a second record I don’t think there would be nearly as much interest as there is now,” Holmes said. “You see that with some of our peers from the era—bands that were much more popular than us at the time. Everyone who wanted to see them, got to see them. Whereas with us, there is some mystery in that we never toured.”

While Holmes said the reunion will “probably demystify the band a bit,” he’s excited to finally share American Football’s record in a live setting with fans during the reunion dates—the album’s first supporting tour—some 15 years later.

The mystique behind the band won’t be over after the upcoming string of shows. It wouldn’t be American Football without questions of what could be and what could have been.

“There are no plans to record any new material currently. I wouldn’t rule it out, but the logistics of doing it are tough,” Holmes said. “That said, I do have a few parts in my back pocket for potential new songs. Mike and I have worked on one of these so far, and we may try to finish it up to include in this run of shows.”

Although, American Football doesn’t need new songs to keep shows fresh; the band barely experienced playing anything off its debut record to begin with. And now, 15 years later, that will finally change.

“I’m very proud of the record we made and I’m excited to have the opportunity to revisit this material and actually play live to the people who’ve discovered the record over the years,” Holmes said. “I have not been in a band in a decade, so for me this whole thing is kind of surreal. I’m a suburban dad and a businessman. Now, I get to go play a few shows to thousands of people. Not a bad part-time job, if you can get it.”

American Football will be performing this Sunday, Sept. 28 at the HighDive Outdoor Stage 1 in downtown Champaign.