With this exposure, the band began playing shows throughout the midwest, including numerous trips to St. Louis and Louisville, as well as the standards of Indianapolis and Bloomington, Indiana. After an initial trip to the Newspace in Dayton, Ohio, the band developed a tight working relationship with the Dayton band Stronghold, and it was the members of Stronghold who convinced Doghouse Records to release Split Lip's music. The band's debut 7" on Doghouse Records firmly established their sound, and with the Doghouse distribution, allowed a much wider audience. In 1992, the band was invited to be a headliner at the first More than Music Festival in Dayton, and instantly developed a national reputation as one of the premier bands of the fledgling emo-core genre.