Kicker (EP)

The EP was the band's first release on Polyvinyl Record Co., their first music released on a label other than Vagrant Records since Live! @ the Granada Theater shortly before their breakup in 2005.{{cite web |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/the-get-up-kids-sign-to-polyvinyl-share-clip-of-new-music/ |title=The Get Up Kids sign to Polyvinyl, share clip of new music |last=Sacher |first=Andrew |date=March 29, 2018 |website=BrooklynVegan |publisher= |access-date=July 6, 2022 }} Having taken an unofficial hiatus since the release of 2011's There Are Rules, the band began to talk about making new music at 2017's When We Were Young festival.{{cite web|url=https://www.stereogum.com/2041661/get-up-kids-problems-interview/interviews/|title=The Get Up Kids And Their Adult Problems|work=Stereogum|author=Cohen, Ian|date=April 30, 2019|access-date=June 24, 2022|archive-date=June 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220619164119/https://www.stereogum.com/2041661/get-up-kids-problems-interview/interviews/|url-status=live}} The band had been touring on and off since their last album, but were feeling restless playing old music. On the EP's release, lead singer Matt Pryor said "we don’t need to put out new music to make money. We can keep playing the old songs and going away and coming back for seemingly who knows how long. But the fact is: we wanted to make new art."{{cite web |url=https://www.kerrang.com/dont-call-it-a-comeback-the-get-up-kids-on-new-music-creativity-and-evolution |title=Don't Call It A Comeback: The Get Up Kids On New Music, Creativity And Evolution |last=Carter |first=Emily |date=June 12, 2018 |website=Kerrang! |publisher=Wasted Talent Ltd |access-date=July 6, 2022 }}

The track "Maybe" started as a discarded demo that songwriter & guitarist Jim Suptic found on an old tape from the Something to Write Home About era.{{cite podcast |host=Tom Mullen|title=#131 - Matt Pryor (The Get Up Kids) |website=www.washedupemo.com |publisher=Washed Up Emo |date=3 October 2022 |url=https://www.washedupemo.com/news/2018/3/ep-131-matt-pryor-the-get-up-kids |access-date=3 October 2022}}

The EP was announced on April 8, 2018, alongside a 23-date summer tour and the release of the first single, "Maybe."{{cite web |url=https://www.spin.com/2018/04/the-get-up-kids-announce-tour-kicker-ep-release-maybe-single/ |title=The Get Up Kids Announce Tour And Kicker EP, Release "Maybe" |last=Elsinger |first=Dale |date=April 5, 2018 |website=Spin |publisher=Next Management Partners |access-date=July 6, 2022 }} After the release of the EP it reached number 10 on the Billboard Vinyl Albums chart.{{Cite magazine |last=Brown |first=Harley |date=2019-06-04 |title='Pasty Nobodies In a Van': The Get Up Kids Discuss New Album 'Problems' and 20th Anniversary of 'Something To Write Home About' |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/the-get-up-kids-problems-anniversary-interview-8513074/ |access-date=2022-07-07 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/kicker-mw0003171134?1657146650089 |title=Kicker - The Get Up Kids |last= Sendra |first=Tim |date= |website=Allmusic |publisher= |access-date=July 6, 2022 }}

| rev2 = The Independent

| rev2Score = {{Rating|3|5}} {{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/lykke-li-new-album-review-so-sad-so-sexy-gruff-rhys-babelsberg-a8386231.html |title=Album reviews: Lykke Li's 'so sad, so sexy', Gruff Rhys's 'Babelsberg' and more |last1=Kaplan |first1=Ilana |last2=Beech |first2=Dave |date=June 6, 2016 |website=The Independent |publisher=Independent Digital News & Media Ltd |access-date=July 6, 2022 }}

|rev3 = Kerrang!

|rev3score = {{Rating|8|10}}[23 Jun 2018, p.55]

|rev4 = Pitchfork Media

|rev4score = 6.7/10{{cite web |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-get-up-kids-kicker-ep/ |title=Kicker EP - The Get Up Kids |last=Cohen |first=Ian |date=June 9, 2018 |website=Pitchfork Media |publisher=Condé Nast |access-date=July 6, 2022 }}

|rev5 = Popmatters

|rev5score = 6/10{{cite web |url=https://www.popmatters.com/get-up-kids-kicker-2576157322.html |title=The Get Up Kids Return… Again With 'Kicker' |last=Laird |first=Christopher |date=June 18, 2018 |website=Popmatters |publisher= |access-date=July 6, 2022 }}

}}

The EP received largely positive reviews from critics. Pitchfork's Ian Cohen called Kicker "the most satisfying Get Up Kids release in nearly 20 years," commenting that it "effortlessly recapture[s]" the energy of the band's early work, and comparing its sound to bands like Beach Slang and Superchunk. UK's The Independent called the EP a "return to form" that "reveals an expected sense of maturity."

Tem Sendra of AllMusic also remarked on the release's departure from the band's more recent fare, writing "None of the measured indie rock sound of their late-period albums still exists; none of the electronics found on their previous reunion records made it through, either. Kicker is good-old emo with the energy of punk and the insistent melodies of pop, exactly what the Kids did so well at the turn of the century." Julie River of Punknews.org wrote that Kicker "mercifully jettisons the style of There Are Rules to return to the style of the first four Get Up Kids albums (albeit with a few new twists) for the first time since 2004’s Guilt Show."{{cite web |url=https://www.punknews.org/review/15865/the-get-up-kids-kicker |title= The Get Up Kids - "Kicker" |last=River |first=Julie |date=June 8, 2018 |website=punknews.org |publisher= |access-date=July 6, 2022 }}

{{track listing

| all_writing = The Get Up Kids

| headline = Side A

| title1 = Maybe

| length1 = 3:12

| title2 = Better This Way

| length2 = 3:02

}}

{{track listing

| all_writing =

| headline = Side B

| title1 = I'm Sorry

| length1 = 3:12

| title2 = My Own Reflection

| length2 = 3:34

}}

Album personnel as adapted from album liner notes:Kicker liner notes

{{Col-begin}}

{{Col-2}}

;Band

• Matt Pryor - lead vocals, guitar
• Jim Suptic - guitar, vocals
• Rob Pope - bass
• Ryan Pope - drums
• James Dewees - keyboards, vocals

;Design

• Camm Roland - design
• Dalton Paley - band photo

{{Col-2}}

;Production

• The Get Up Kids - production
• Jim Vollentine - mixing
• Bob Weston - mastering
• Steve Squire - engineering

{{col-end}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Discogs master|1371402|type=single}}

{{The Get Up Kids}}

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Category:The Get Up Kids EPs

Category:2018 EPs

Category:Polyvinyl Record Co. EPs