‘Radio Is Dead’ is a bold title for a band to hang an EP on in 2026, but then Ups and Downs 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 – bands who took their cues from The Church and turned them into something jangly, chiming and unmistakably their own. Their 1986 mini-album ‘Sleepless’, home to the indie hit ‘The Living Kind’ and a much-loved cover of Neil Diamond’s ‘Solitary Man’, is rightly considered a landmark of that era.
Following last year’s sold-out 40th anniversary tour and the vinyl-only anthology Stained Glass Memories, Ups and Downs are back again – and this time with something even more significant than nostalgia. ‘Radio Is Dead’ is the band’s first new original music in ten years, and as I always say, creativity does not have a use-by date.
The lead single ‘Out of Thin Air’ set the tone back in July: a reflective, yearning track sparkling with crystalline guitars that shimmer like sunlight off the ocean. It’s the sound of a band picking the thread back up exactly where their instincts left it – 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.
Frontman Greg Atkinson put it simply:
It is incredible to think we started on this journey 40 years ago – and it’s not over yet. The band is sounding better than ever.
And the evidence is clear and uncotrovertable:
The cover is a photo of Greg and Darren’s father Geoff who was a popular radio announcer in Brisbane in the 1960s. The EP is dedicated to his memory.
‘Radio Is Dead’ has been released physically and digitally through Basketcase Records, distributed locally by MGM and internationally by Redeye Worldwide.
The EP arrives just ahead of the Sleepless 40 Years On tour in October, which will see the band do something they’ve never done before in four decades: play ‘Sleepless’ in its entirety, followed by a second set of hits and favourites. Dates below and tickets here.
Fri 2nd Oct – Crowbar, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
Sat 3rd Oct – Wallaby Hotel, Mudgeeraba (Gold Coast)
Fri 9th Oct – Crowbar, Leichhardt, Sydney
Sat 10th Oct – Hamilton Station Hotel,
Fri 2nd Oct Crowbar Brisbane, Fortitude Valley tickets here
Sat 3rd Oct Wallaby Hotel, Mudgeeraba (Gold Coast) tickets here
Fri 9th Oct Crowbar Sydney, Leichhardt tickets here
Sat 10th Oct Hamilton Station Hotel, Newcastle tickets here
‘Radio Is Dead’ is out now.
