Live Review from 14th Year Anniversary Party
1. Wake Up!
2. Upstart
3 .Right Now
4. Far From Here
5. 嚇大
6. Broken Social Scene
The Stay Ups kick off with a big, raucous, raw punk rock sound which bodes well for the rest of their set. And indeed what’s not to like here – the attitude is present and correct, songs are well constructed, and the singer’s natty cap and polka dot sneakers complete the picture. Yes their 90’s influences are immediately apparent – Green Day, The Alkaline Trio, Blink 182, Sum 41 et al – but musically they certainly inject plenty of individualistic panache. It’s when the singing begins that things lose a little momentum. Those badass rock sounds need an equivalently badass vocal and Ryan – who actually has a pretty impressive music industry track record – is just so … nice. He almost speaks his lyrics rather than screaming them out a la Kurt Cobain/whatshisname out of Nickelback as I and I’m sure the rest of the audience were expecting. He could be at a tea party asking the vicar if he’d like another cup of tea. Don’t get me wrong, he’s got a great voice, it’s just that for this kind of music there’s something of a disconnect. Introducing one track though he did say “and it goes something like this” which redeemed it a little for me.
– Dan Creffield