Brisbane indie veterans Ups and Downs return with the new EP Radio Is Dead, while preparing to perform their 1986 mini-album Sleepless in full for the first time.
by Paul Cashmere
Brisbane indie band Ups and Downs have released Radio Is Dead, their first collection of new original music in a decade, ahead of four Australian shows marking 40 years since the release of their influential 1986 mini-album Sleepless. The October concerts in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney and Newcastle will also mark the first time the band has performed Sleepless in its entirety, with the original material joined by a second set of other songs from across their catalogue.
Radio Is Dead is being released through Basketcase Records in physical and digital formats, with MGM handling Australian distribution and Redeye Worldwide distributing the release internationally. The EP reconnects Ups and Downs with the guitar-led melodic sound that defined their place in Australia’s independent music scene during the 1980s.
The release follows a 2025 tour celebrating 40 years of Ups and Downs, along with the vinyl-only anthology Stained Glass Memories. The band’s return to the stage in October shifts the focus to Sleepless, the mini-album that established some of their most enduring songs.
The 1986 release included The Living Kind, the band’s best-known single, and their version of Neil Diamond’s Solitary Man. The Living Kind was subsequently nominated for Best New Talent at the 1987 ARIA Awards, placing Ups and Downs among the emerging Australian acts receiving national recognition during the period.
For Greg Atkinson, the band’s continued activity four decades after its formation is significant.
“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,” Greg Atkinson said.
Ups and Downs formed in Brisbane in 1983 with brothers Greg and Darren Atkinson, John Flade and Peter Shaw. The group initially released two singles through Basketcase before relocating to Sydney, where its following expanded within the independent music community.
The Living Kind became a key release in 1986, followed by Sleepless. The band subsequently signed with Mushroom Records and released its debut full-length album, Underneath the Watchful Eye, in 1988. By then, Ups and Downs had developed a distinctive sound built around chiming guitars, melodic songwriting and layered harmonies.
The band’s music became associated with the Australian jangle pop and paisley underground of the era, alongside artists exploring the intersection of alternative rock, pop melody and post-punk influences. Ups and Downs also established an international connection through the UK and US independent label What Goes On, which had also released early material by Died Pretty and the Celibate Rifles.
John Flade left the group in 1989 and Ups and Downs released another EP before initially breaking up in 1990.
The story did not end there. Ups and Downs returned to the stage in 2007 for appearances connected with Brisbane’s music history, including Pig City and a 4ZZZ anniversary event. The band formally reformed for a series of shows in 2011 and subsequently issued Out of the Darkness: Sleepless, Singles & Other Stories, bringing together material from its earlier period.
New music followed in the 2010s. The Sky’s in Love With You was released by Basketcase Records in 2017, followed by further recordings including Disco in My Head, Some Sleep and The Real World. The latter revisited a song from the band’s early history and was released in 2019.
Radio Is Dead therefore represents a return to original songwriting after a 10-year gap. Its release also places the band’s current activity alongside a renewed examination of its 1980s catalogue, with Sleepless receiving the full-album treatment on stage rather than being represented only by individual songs.
The October performances are particularly notable because Sleepless has never previously been performed live from beginning to end. The format gives the mini-album a central role while allowing the band to draw from its wider catalogue during the second set.
The concerts also continue a recent pattern of anniversary-driven performances by established Australian independent acts, where historically significant releases are being revisited in live settings for audiences familiar with the original recordings and listeners discovering the material decades later.
For Ups and Downs, the next stage is both retrospective and contemporary. Radio Is Dead extends the band’s recorded catalogue with new original material, while the Sleepless 40 Years On shows place one of its defining releases at the centre of the live set.
Tour Dates
2 October 2026, Brisbane, Crowbar Brisbane, Fortitude Valley
3 October 2026, Mudgeeraba, Wallaby Hotel
9 October 2026, Sydney, Crowbar Sydney, Leichhardt
10 October 2026, Newcastle, Hamilton Station Hotel
Ticket Details
Tickets are available through the respective venue websites and Flying Saucer Presents.
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