PUP’s latest release truly captures a band on the precipice; equally as chaotic as it is vibrant and playful, 'THE UNRAVELING OF PUP THE BAND' is a barely contained burst of thrashy, unhinged punk joy.
This release comes after a healthy track-record of critically celebrated albums. From their 2014 self-titled debut, to 2019’s 'Morbid Stuff', PUP have a penchant for crafting mighty, cathartic punk anthems. Yet this time round, the energy is different – aiming to tread where no PUP has tread before, 'THE UNRAVELING OF PUP THE BAND' reveals a far more experimental side to the punks.
Recorded in a haunted mansion (yes, really), armed with some impressive gear, the circumstances surrounding this record pushed the group to their wits end. Toying with a range of unconventional soundscapes and wild instrumental choices, this record delivers the group’s signature sharp pessimism and glorious hook-y sing-alongs with absolute class. This new era feels like a re-imagination of what PUP’s brand of punk is possible of achieving, welcoming in tracks far more ambitious and far-reaching than ever before.
We had a chat with the quartet in light of their triumphant new record, considering how their collective unravelling might just have actually been the making of them…
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How's it going? How are we feeling about the album release? It seems like everyone's been loving it.
Stefan: It's been a pretty a whirlwind of a week. We've been playing shows for the first time in two years – and some of them have been pretty big! Like, it's pretty weird to go from literally just the four of us hanging out for two years to playing infront of 2500 people. It's a real big mindfuck – in a good way. There's been a lot of just getting used to being on stage again… And, of course, the record coming out was a pretty momentous occasion for us. It's a miracle that we've made four records now.
It's a huge achievement! When we think about the headspace for this record – the fact that you WERE just four guys chillin in a room, disconnected from everything – what was that, like? How did that impact your outlook and approach this time around?
Stefan: Well, we lived in the attic of a haunted mansion when we recorded this record. Spending five whole weeks there together was just like… absolute, absolute chaos. The studio that we recorded in was in the attic… and at night there were bats. By the end, we were making some pretty wild decisions – but decisions that, in retrospect, we're all very happy with. We were all a little unhinged by the end, so it had a big impact on the final product.
Zack: The environment was an outward reflection of our internal reality; it made us both more and less uncomfortable at the same time with expressing our ideas. And people really like some of the weirder choices we made. The response has been crazy. I don't know if we NEED that type of encouragement, but I'll take it. I'll get weirder.
The record definitely gets weird – literally on 'Four Chords', we've kind of got that like, weird electronics in the madness that's just like chucked out of nowhere. It really feels like you guys aren't playing by the rules. Do you feel like that let you kind of let loose even, like even more?
Zack: It's definitely a way of stretching ourselves, to add some flavours. By the time we had totally lost our minds, by the end of writing and recording, we were okay with putting in a saxophone solo or like, trap drums.
Is the album title inspired by the fact that you guys all collectively 'lost your minds' then?
Stefan: Oh, yeah – that was a Nestor title.
Nestor: It's very much reflection of how we all felt.
Stefan: It sounds like we're fucked.
It does! It sounds like you've all literally had a breakdown. But I think I think it works – and the artwork is fantastic too!
Zack: That's by Jordan Speer (Beefstrong on instagram). He's pretty well regarded amongst other artists and visual artists – he's great. He's an incredible artist.
Let’s delve into the album a bit more then lyrical content then. Lyrically, you guys are kind of 'out there' – it always feels very confessional. Did the uncomfortable environment have any impact on that?
Stefan: I think like the goal is always to be as open and forthcoming as possible. Maybe the environment revealed some things about myself and about us as a band that we maybe were not aware of before though.
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What track do you think you're proudest of? Or like, what track do you think you totally nailed?
Stefan: I don't think I've ever gotten anything perfectly…
Or, y'know, track that you think isn't half bad..?
Stefan: I like the 'PUPTHEBAND Inc Is Filing For Bankruptcy' I think it's just like – that song is us. It's the essence of PUP distilled into a song, and I love it so much. Lyrically, I like it because it's just extremely stupid.
Yeah, with lines like "now all of my friends have bidets in their en-suites…"
Stefan: It's so dumb that it had to go in the song! Lyrically, I think is pretty goofy, but it's also very cathartic to sing. So hopefully it's cathartic to listen to, to shout along to at shows. But then, the music of the song connects all the emotional dots. The music is pummeling, then we switch into that sax solo, then switch into a stupid sing-along acoustic thing. When I listen back to the record, that's the song where I'm like, wow, that this song is really the four of us making something… incredibly stupid. Incredibly stupid, but also pretty good.
Zack: Stefan is constantly outdoing himself with the lyrics. 'PUPTHEBAND Inc Is Filing For Bankruptcy' is also one that I really love, and 'Totally Fine'. 'Totally Fine' I was happy with quite early on – a first time I've been happy with a song type situation. So that has a special place in my heart. I tend to prefer the more aggressive stuff.
Steve: Musically speaking, it's so cool to have so many ideas that were unfiltered. It does feel like all of our personalities are shining through throughout the record. There are moments on every song that I hear and I'll forever associate it with with a moment in the studio – where an idea springs up and we all looked at each other and knew that that was it. That's a cool thing to hear throughout. Like, with the saxophone – when when Zack initially threw out that idea, I knew exactly the person who could do it. And we within 24 hours, had a had an audio file sitting in our inbox that ended up being the one that's on the record. Just little moments like that, where the decision making just became kind of more and more unhinged.
Nestor: 'PUPTHEBAND Inc Is Filing For Bankruptcy' and 'Four Chords' were the first and last song we recorded. Those were kind of eureka moments… And, with 'Four Chords', there was this beautiful piano in the studio and it just came together so quickly.
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Stefan: …on 'Four Chords' you can hear that we've made a mistake. And we we kept it.
Nestor: Peter was like, "oh, you know, we can fix it, we can cut it" and we were like… no, you have to leave it in.
Zack: It wasn't meant to be perfect – why change it?
Yeah, why pretend that you're a completely clean-cut band when you are hectic, a little bit scrappy, a little bit raw? Of course you've gotta bring that chaos in straight away on the opener.
Stefan: Why pretend that you can play four chords without making a mistake.
Zack: The feeling of being on the edge of making a mistake the entire time playing four chords… I think that's like, a summary of our process. Sometimes I'm like, at the edge of my ability, and it's literally just four chords that I play. I think on 'Robot Writes A Love Song' I felt like that – I was so stressed out the entire time. But yeah, I think that's just this band.
Steve: 'Four Chords' is shocking because literally all I had to do was push the white keys and not touch the black keys… and it fucked everything up.
But it didn't fuck it up, you know, it made it perfect in its own way.
Stefan: Well, thank you. I'll take that haha. Yeah, it was actually intentional – it was, like, um, a metaphor for how fucked up late stage capitalism is, you know… and I represent it by just coming in, pressing the wrong key…. Sometimes capitalism just crashes in, breaks the flow.
I get you. I totally, totally got that when I was listening – the sound of capitalism haha. Speaking of capitalism, can I just say that the last line of the album is brilliant: "I just wanna thank all the sponsors".
Stefan: Closing the record on that line – as soon as the song was in hand, it was not even a discussion.
Zack: It's kind of like leaving a party and falling down the stairs immediately. You leave with your dumbest mistake. We started awkwardly, we leave and look stupid. That's us.
And 'PUPTHEBAND Inc Is Filing For Bankruptcy' and 'Four Chords' were the last two tracks you finished – why bookend the album with them?
Stefan: I think it was just that there were both the most unhinged.
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By the way, continuing on with the capitalism once more, who came up with the idea for the 'Totally Fine' video?
Nestor: That was Zack and I, we worked on that together. The whole idea of the band being a corporation was funny to us, and we'd like announced the record as if we were doing some sort of corporate training video. We felt there was a hole well of funny jokes in there.
Zack: There's like, so many stupid like, true crime things about sports and corporations and stuff – it's just getting so ridiculous that it's all it's verging on self parody. And Nestor had this great idea of like a courtroom drama. So we combined the two ideas, and then rammed it full of as many stupid jokes as possible – every frame, there's like four jokes. But yeah, we just wanted it to be as visually chaotic as the song was. And I think we, we achieved that.
Do you feel like you make a conscious effort to like, balance out the chaos? Like, putting forward serious criticism but making sure it's never dark?
Steve: Yeah, I think that juxtaposition is really important. Whether it's visuals accompanying songs, or within the songs themselves, I think, I think that's something that we're definitely been conscious of. We always want to try and find that balance. I don't think it's something that there's like a formula for. Sometimes Stephen will bring lyrics that are kinda silly, and we can kind of give some push and pull with that. Or, you know, there are other rooms where we're having fun with the music, but there can be some pretty serious lyrics. Nobody wants us to be serious all the time, us especially.
Zack: You're British, so you would be familiar with the phenomenon of that – making a joke when you're at your worst.
Anything you wanna tell me before I let you guys go?
Stefan: I really need to go to the bathroom… Should I bring the laptop in with me?
I mean, you could bring it in and record it, maybe use the sounds on the next record?
Stefan: Yeah, Pup And The Pile Of Shit – perfect!
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'THE UNRAVELING OF PUP THE BAND' is out now. Catch PUP at 2000trees in July, or on their October headline tour.
Words: Emily Swingle
Photo Credit: Vanessa Heins
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