The Get Up Kids debut "The Problem is Me"

The Get Up Kids premiere the second song from their upcoming new album, titled "The Problem is Me". It's great.

Eight years since the last Get Up Kids album, eight long years. But it hasn't been eight years without music by members of the Get Up Kids. They've been very busy in fact, producing work from all their side projects that include solo albums, as well as an album as Radar State (recommended highly if you're missing that early Get Up Kids sound).

But here we are, eight years since There Are Rules and we are on the cusp of the release of Problems, their upcoming sixth studio album. Due May 10th on Polyvinyl Records, Problems sounds like it will be both continued growth of the Get Up Kids sound and one that taps into their roots. The latter is of course, great for old fans like myself, but it is one that the band members have always been wary about.

Guitarist Jim Suptic has said that there really isn't a "going back" for the band, at least in terms of their songwriting;

"I’m 41 now, I could never write a song like when I was 19—all those ‘I miss my girlfriend’ kind of songs. It’s always important to us to write about wherever we are right now."

Thankfully then, as you listen to the second song released from Problems, you're met with the sound of "right now". "The Problem is Me" is a song about "embracing your own romantic dysfunction", and it is glorious in all its guitar-heavy melodies and impactful emotional connection- a good sign that "right now" is where we all want to be.

Perhaps The Get Up Kids will never write another Something to Write Home About, but in a sense, that record was a perfect moment in time. And time only moves in one direction. As vocalist/guitarist Matt Pryor laments;

"A big part of the reason why we started writing new songs in the first place is that we have things we want to say about this moment in time."

We're listening Matt, we're listening.