THE GET UP KIDS – THERE ARE RULES
The Get Up Kids are back and they’re a little older, a little wiser but still in touch with their roots. There Are Rules is the Kansas band’s fifth album, but it was recorded without computers and on tape with the aim to go back to how it was done for their first album, Four Minute Mile. It’s easy to misread the album title as There Are No Rules, maybe because this album seems to be following none. There’s a lot going on, with this punky pop rock album. Bassist Rob Pope enjoys bringing random things to the table and you’ll hear analog synthesizers, an extensive collection of effect pedals and an omnichord (an electric autoharp). This is a band that breaks up, reunites, switches labels, and apologises for being influential to bands they don’t like. Guitarist Jim Suptic has said, “if this is the world we helped create, then I apologise”. It’s statements like this that makes them a band listeners love to hate, but there are also loads of diehard fans out there who will be pleased with the fresh sounds and maturity in There Are Rules.
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