{"id":90455,"date":"2026-09-07T23:26:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T23:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/90455\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T23:26:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T23:26:06","slug":"ep-review-theres-life-in-them-still-brisbane-jangle-pop-legends-ups-and-downs-sound-better-than-ever-on-radio-is-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/90455\/","title":{"rendered":"EP Review: There’s life in them still – Brisbane jangle pop legends Ups and Downs sound better than ever on ‘Radio Is Dead’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t88\/100\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBackseat Mafia Rating<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ti\u2018Radio is Dead\u2019 is filled with pure guitar pop, summery melodies and the kind of classic harmonies that arrive without warning and refuse to leave.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u2018Radio Is Dead\u2019 is a bold title for a band to hang an EP on in 2026, but then Ups and Downs<\/a> have never been shy about naming things plainly. Formed in Brisbane in the early eighties, they were part of the same wave that gave us The Crystal Set, Falling Joys and the Hummingbirds \u2013 bands who took their cues from The Church and turned them into something jangly, chiming and unmistakably their own. Their 1986 mini-album \u2018Sleepless\u2019, home to the indie hit \u2018The Living Kind\u2019 and a much-loved cover of Neil Diamond\u2019s \u2018Solitary Man\u2019, is rightly considered a landmark of that era.<\/p>\n

Following last year\u2019s sold-out 40th anniversary tour and the vinyl-only anthology Stained Glass Memories, Ups and Downs are back again \u2013 and this time with something even more significant than nostalgia. \u2018Radio Is Dead\u2019 is the band\u2019s first new original music in ten years, and as I always say, creativity does not have a use-by date.<\/p>\n

The lead single \u2018Out of Thin Air\u2019 set the tone back in July: a reflective, yearning track sparkling with crystalline guitars that shimmer like sunlight off the ocean. It\u2019s the sound of a band picking the thread back up exactly where their instincts left it \u2013 unhurried, melodic, sure of itself. Across the rest of the EP that same quality holds: pure guitar pop, summery melodies and the kind of classic harmonies that arrive without warning and refuse to leave.<\/p>\n

Frontman Greg Atkinson put it simply: <\/p>\n

It is incredible to think we started on this journey 40 years ago \u2013 and it\u2019s not over yet. The band is sounding better than ever.<\/p>\n

And the evidence is clear and uncotrovertable:<\/p>\n

The cover is a photo of Greg and Darren\u2019s father Geoff who was a popular radio announcer in Brisbane in the 1960s. The EP is dedicated to his memory.<\/p>\n

\u2018Radio Is Dead\u2019 has been released physically and digitally through Basketcase Records, distributed locally by MGM and internationally by Redeye Worldwide.<\/p>\n

The EP arrives just ahead of the Sleepless 40 Years On tour in October, which will see the band do something they\u2019ve never done before in four decades: play \u2018Sleepless\u2019 in its entirety, followed by a second set of hits and favourites. Dates below and tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

QLD Fri 2nd Oct \u2013 Crowbar, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane Sat 3rd Oct \u2013 Wallaby Hotel, Mudgeeraba (Gold Coast)<\/p>\n

NSW Fri 9th Oct \u2013 Crowbar, Leichhardt, Sydney Sat 10th Oct \u2013 Hamilton Station Hotel, Newcastle<\/p>\n

\u2018Radio Is Dead\u2019 is out now.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"88\/100 Backseat Mafia Rating i\u2018Radio is Dead\u2019 is filled with pure guitar pop, summery melodies and the kind…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2719,69852,99,4329,156015,112109,152,156016,2731,17916,107802],"class_list":["post-90455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-backseat-downunder","tag-backseat-mafia","tag-brisbane","tag-indie","tag-jangle-pop","tag-meanjin","tag-news","tag-paisley","tag-pop","tag-psych","tag-ups-and-downs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}