If anyone in Brisbane ever could be, the Atkinson boys, Darren and Greg, seemed destined to be rock stars.
uncertain
boys → destine → Brisbane
They grew up in Oxley, streets away from both Ed Kuepper (the Saints) and Robert Vickers (the Go-Betweens), both of whom they knew from delivering them fruit for their parents’ greengrocery business.
asserted
they → grow → business
Better still, their dad, Geoff Atkinson, was a popular DJ on 4BC and 4BK during the 1950s and ’60s, had a music TV show on QTQ9, Teen Beat, had interviewed the Beatles, and nurtured the boys’ love of music by bringing the latest records home from work.
asserted
dad → have → work
At the end of the 1970s, with Darren on drums and Greg on bass and lead vocals, they put together a band called 42nd Street, moved to Sydney, and promptly and acrimoniously broke up.
But everything would change when they returned to Brisbane and (in 1983) formed the legendary guitar-pop band Ups and Downs with guitarists John Flade and Peter Shaw.
asserted
they → put → Flade
Two singles they released in Brisbane, Living Inside My Head and Perfect Crime, started a buzz down south, including a positive review in The Sydney Morning Herald, so they headed back to Sydney and were signed by Polygram sub-label True Tone Records.
“It was a great time for guitar bands,” Darren recalls.
asserted
Darren → release → bands
“Back then, there were so many venues throughout Sydney suburbs, you could play at least three or four nights a week.
uncertain
you → be → nights
“The time was right for a group like us, so we had a lot of early success.”
asserted
we → have → success
Ups and Downs were part of the Paisley Underground – an indie rock movement inspired by 1960s psychedelia, but with a darker edge.
asserted
Ups → inspire → edge
“We didn’t want to just be labelled as a ’60s copyist band,” Darren says, admitting, “we created part of that ourselves by wearing paisley shirts on stage”.
asserted
we → want → stage
Their efforts culminated in their best-known single, The Living Kind: a jangle-pop ode to longing that skirted the lower reaches of the singles chart and got them an ARIA nomination for Best New Talent (Crowded House won that year).
asserted
House → culminate → Talent
So why did it all go wrong?
asserted
it → go → ?
Why aren’t Ups and Downs talked about in the same breath as another Brisbane guitar band of the era, the Go-Betweens?
asserted
Ups → talk → era
First there was the handling of the band’s 1986 release Sleepless, the 40th anniversary of which they are celebrating with a national tour.
asserted
they → be → tour
“We didn’t do a whole album,” says Darren.
asserted
Darren → do → album
“It’s actually a mini-album which is, to this day, a bad marketing idea.”
asserted
which → ’ → day
With just seven tracks, Sleepless was all killer, no filler, and the band were told people would love it.
asserted
people → tell → it
“But it actually went against us, because we couldn’t get into the mainstream album charts.
asserted
we → go → charts
We sold lots on the independent front, but the sales weren’t recognised.”
asserted
sales → sell → front
With their management, they took the view True Tone were not supporting their commercial potential.
asserted
Tone → take → potential
“We tried to extract ourselves from that [contract], and that meant we pretty much couldn’t record and didn’t play much,” Darren says.
asserted
Darren → try → much
Adding keyboard player Trevor O’Neill, Ups and Downs were able to sign to Mushroom Records two years later and finally release a full album, Underneath the Watchful Eye.
asserted
Ups → add → Eye
But when the A&R rep who signed them was sacked, they found themselves the label’s unloved child.
asserted
themselves → sign → them
Worse still, by the time they re-emerged, a new generation of guitar bands had stolen their thunder.
asserted
generation → re → thunder
“I think the defining moment was a gig at Selena’s at the Coogee Bay Hotel.
asserted
moment → think → Hotel
It had Ratcat, the Hummingbirds, Falling Joys and Caligula, all new bands, and we were down towards the bottom of the bill,” Darren says.
asserted
Darren → have → bill
“We decided, well, things don’t last forever,” Greg says.
asserted
Greg → decide → ?
The brothers started a new band, Big Heavy Stuff, with a grungier sound, which found airplay on Triple J and supported Radiohead on their OK Computer Australian tour.
asserted
which → start → tour
After three deals with three different labels, they fizzled out in the new millennium.
asserted
they → fizzle → millennium
Kristin Black, who DJs the weekly 4ZZZ show Heyday, says Ups and Downs were Brisbane’s answer to the Church.
asserted
Ups → dj → Church
“Sleepless, or Flawless as I have called it, is a brilliant mini album,” she says.
asserted
she → call → it
“Combining a moody instrumental opener, with chiming guitar tracks, an unlikely but brilliant Neil Diamond cover [Solitary Man] – it just works.
asserted
it → combine → tracks
“There’s something about siblings singing in harmony, they do it best.”
asserted
they → ’ → it
To mark 40 years of Sleepless, Ups and Downs are reuniting to tour it.
asserted
Ups → mark → it
They also have a new EP, Radio Is Dead, a fresh and evocative release showcasing the band’s ethereal guitar textures and otherworldly vocal harmonies.
asserted
Radio → have → textures
With cover art depicting the Atkinsons’ dad in his radio prime, it’s their first new release since 2017 comeback album The Sky’s In Love With You.
asserted
Sky → depict → You
“Greg’s voice doesn’t seem to have aged a day in 40 years,” Black says.
asserted
Black → seem → years
“I’m thrilled there’s new Ups and Downs music in the world.”
asserted
I → ’m → world
Ups and Downs still boast their original line-up, with the addition of extra bassist Alex Ronayne.
asserted
Ups → boast → Ronayne
“I don’t think we had any intention of ever getting back together,” Darren says.
asserted
Darren → think → intention
“But about 10 years later, someone wanted to put our song on a compilation album, and suddenly it’s ‘do you wanna do a show?’ and next thing we’re ‘maybe we could get back together’.
uncertain
we → want → show
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
