Get Up Kids – On A Wire
(Vagrant)

Apparently endless touring and skyrocketing popularity take their toll on a band, and just generally wear them down to a fraction of what they once were. I can’t think of many bands that have actually stood up beneath all the pressure and managed to write a second great album to follow up the one that brought them tons of attention and critical acclaim. I’m sure part of the problem is the fact that the band is afraid to repeat themselves, and also that they are burnt out from constantly playing the same material over and over again. And then there’s probably the desire to turn your back on the crowd and do something completely different just to spite them… which can also be good, every now and then.

So now you tell me, what is the deal with this new Get Up Kids album? Are they purposely trying to alienate their fans? Are they just exhausted from touring and playing the same old stuff all the time? Or did they just knock off these songs in the span of a week because it was time for a new album? Well one thing I certainly won’t criticize them for is an attempt at furthering their mainstream success — if I heard most of these songs on the radio I’d be asleep in a matter of seconds.

That being said, it would be really easy to just rip this album apart and complain about the Get Up Kids’ tendency to write terribly sappy love songs that all sound the same. But wait a minute… I actually like the Get Up Kids. Or at least I thought I did. The way I remember it though, The Get Up Kids used to sound like they were having fun when they played music. Not anymore, my friends.

On A Wire is basically a mellow, boring album, I don’t know how else to say it. Many would compare it to The New Amsterdams, Robert Pope and Matt Pryor’s admittedly more subdued, acoustic project (particularly the acoustic songs at the beginning and end of this album), but even The New Amsterdams have a catchy song here and there. This new album from The Get Up Kids does not. After a couple of listens, not one single song has managed to leave any residual effects in my mind. No sing along choruses, no stand out guitar or keyboard riffs… nothing.

Oh sure, there are a couple of tracks on here that would probably have been acceptable if they had been mixed in with a more standard batch of Get Up Kids songs. The (semi-)title track “Walking On A Wire” is definitely laidback, but it manages to create an interesting air of wistfulness with some minimalistic guitar work. Also the song “All That I Know”, which has a faint Beatles echo to it and features vocals by second guitarist Jim Suptic, gave me cause to momentarily stop and take note, as did the farfisa organ-driven “The Worst Idea”. And I will admit that “Stay Gone” isn’t horrible either, but that’s being really generous, and we all know it’s usually not a good sign when the most radio-friendly song is one of the stand out tracks on an album. (Strangely enough, “Stay Gone” is not the album’s first single.) But let’s be honest, all of these songs should be barely good enough to serve as filler on a Get Up Kids album, much less carry the whole thing.

So in conclusion… yes, it’s a disappointment, but no, this album hasn’t turned me off from The Get Up Kids completely. I get the feeling that it might just be a phase they’re going through right now. Matt Pryor just had a baby, and parenthood has a tendency to turn everyone sappy for at least a little while. We’ll see. Still, the point is, this record isn’t going to be getting airplay in my house anytime soon. What can I say? It just ain’t “something to write home about”. — Sean