Music > Interviews

PUP

26/07/16

How would you feel to be told that after playing over 450 gigs the dream is over? Well that’s exactly what happened to Toronto punk rock band PUP when their lead singer Stefan damaged his vocal chords to the extent that he was told he’d never sing again. But they’re back on track, still going strong and we grabbed the chance to speak to Steve before their second trip to The Owl Sanctuary this month.

 

We’re really excited to have you back in Norwich soon!  

Yeah, it’s our first show of the tour!

 

Are you excited to come back to England?

Yeah I am. You know you’ve certainly been in the news recently! The shows have all been selling very well. It’s our fifth time over but our first headline show. Iit will be nice to go back and see some friends.

 

What’s the story behind your band name?

It was an acronym - it stands for Pathetic Use of Potential. We don’t think too much about it!

 

What was the music scene like in Toronto growing up?

Wow, great question! Well the music scene in Toronto was really vibrant for a number of years, this city is the one of the biggest on the continent and the scene here has always been really amazing. It was a lot easier to throw an all ages show when I was 13 - actually it’s very interesting that we are doing this interview in Norwich and about our show at The Owl Sanctuary because they really embody a lot of the principles that I grew up going to shows with. They are very much about being inclusive and having as many all ages shows as possible, really supporting the community and building something for the people of Norwich. And that was something really important when I was in high school. We would go to all ages shows in downtown Toronto but now it’s pretty much all bars, and kids who could play good shows are not allowed to go into those bars. That’s something you can draw a direct correlation between, a lot of the great and established bands in Toronto now who were able to learn how to play shows by having the opportunity to play at all ages shows when they were younger. All ages shows gave them that opportunity. It’s a little more difficult for young bands now, so that’s why we try to do more all ages shows as that’s the world that nurtured us.

 

 Nobody needs four straight white dudes being serious about themselves. 

 

Speaking of nurturing I know you’ve all been friends since you were all really young. I wondered if you felt like that gave you a special connection as a band and whether it makes it easier to make music?

Yeah definitely. We all know how to push each other’s buttons in like a brotherly sort of way which is fun - we do it in a loving way but we can also anticipate each other’s creative and musical contributions. So I recognize as a guitarist when it’s time for me to step out and kind of be in the forefront but I also recognize when it’s time for me to step down and sit back and work in a supporting role. It makes it a lot easier when we know each other so well musically but also just aspeople.

 

Do you hang out when you aren’t on tour? Are you friends as well as band mates?

We’re on tour a lot this year but our girlfriends are all friends so all of eight of us have dinner together. That sort of thing is important you know. We’re playing this week and a couple of the girlfriends are jumping into the back of the van, so we are kind of like a big rolling family. That actually makes things a lot easier when you can do that because it allows everyone to just relax. There are different energies in the group but that’s not to say when it’s just the four of us it’s some dark miserable time. We still have a great time when it’s just the four of us or there are other people in the van. But it’s nice that everyone gets along and it’s not just a working relationship.

 

I know you supported Slaves in the past, and I wondered how you found that experience?

Isaac is one of the few people I’ve had to tell to stop talking because my face hurt so bad from laughing, and Laurie is great as well. They are both such passionate and caring individuals and it’s nice to see those sort of people have success. It’s funny to see things grow - this is going to be our fifth time in the UK, we toured with them the first time three years ago now and now they are playing Glastonbury!

 

What do you think about the punk scene in 2016?

To me it feels very vibrant. It feels like there is room being made for a lot of voices from all walks of life whether you are gay, straight, if you identify as male or female or neither. And whether you are making political music or not I think that there are more room for multiple different viewpoints and I think that’s really important. I mean we don’t make particularly political music and one of the things we concentrate on is our live shows. One of the things we have realised is that we can make a good contribution and encourage different viewpoints through our shows. Whatever walk of life you are from you can come to our shows and have a good time.

 

 

Do you all have differing musical tastes?

There’s definitely things we agree on. In terms of stuff like Queens of the Stone Age and Outkast, The Dead Kennedy’s. We don’t really limit ourselves to just punk, I mean I have a jazz degree as well and our rhythm section have been in heavy metal bands. We do try and listen to a lot of music whether it’s folk music or Saint Vincent. At any one time in the van there could be any genre of music playing. We listen to the new Kendrick Lamar record a lot. We feel it’s not as interesting to make and to listen to just one genre of music. But that’s not to suggest we are doing something so radically new or different, I just think the more open you are to expanding your influences or your listening patterns the better you are equipped to find inspiration and good ideas in places you wouldn’t think to find it.

 

How did you feel when the doctor told Stephan the dream was over?

We were actually in Baltimore, Maryland at the beginning of a six week tour with Modern Baseball and it was the first night that we found out about the news of Stephan’s throat. He was visibly distressed. As a touring band, doing what we do things are stacked against you to begin with, you know, it’s not like we are Taylor Swift! We knew that we would probably have to make sacrifices and that the dream could be over so we have to be afraid of that at any time. So as soon as we found out the news about Stephan we immediately knew we would have to do what’s best for the band. We didn’t want to cancel gigs but we ended up cancelling that final week of the tour.

 

How has he managed to get himself back to strength and playing live again?

He shut down for almost three weeks and didn’t make a sound. He was communicating electronically, basically, and that was really tough for him. He basically had the same thing that happened to Adele but obviously she was able to take a year of and still have Rolling In The Deep playing on the radio. We didn’t have that luxury, we had to figure out coping methods and try and continue the forward momentum we built but also ensure that when we played shows we gave people their money’s worth. We took a little bit of time off and learned parts of our songs where maybe Stephan didn’t have to sing as much so the rest of us would sing more. And we figured out that maybe we could change the tone of the song to make it a little bit lower..there were little things you did to ensure there was less strain on Stephan’s voice. He has multiple different specialised doctors so he’s being proactive, and you just have to think that what we’ve been through isn’t that bad considering what other people have had to go through on a daily basis. There are two ways you can deal with this, one is deal with the problem your own way or two, lay down and become an accountant.

 

I was looking at the cover for your new album and I was wondering how it links to the themes?

It’s kind of an accurate representation of what our lives feel like sometimes. We wanted something that was kind of striking and spoke to both the seriousness of the subject matter and hopefully a recognition of the tongue and cheek ideas we strive to put into our music. Nobody needs four straight white dudes being serious about themselves.

 

 

I know you’ve played like a billion gigs but is there one special one that you remember?

The day before our record came out in May we played a show in Toronto that was sold out, one of the bigger venues in the city with around 1,200 tickets sold. So that was amazing! Everyone was singing along, and it was a really really fun atmosphere with our friends and family there as well. There was also a gig we did a few years back in London at the O2 Brixton Academy supporting The Hives that was really amazing. And other one that really sticks out for me is a festival that we played in Tasmania - we played while the sun was setting over these mountains in front of a great crowd of people with just a really beautiful vibe. I was thinking I cannot believe I’m on a tiny island near an ocean on the other side of the world playing a festival!

 

What are your plans are for the rest of the year?

Oh well it’s just work, work, work! We start in Norwich and we’re in the UK doing Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, London and Southampton and then we go to Europe. Then from Europe we fly to Australia, come back from Australia, have a couple days off then we head over to North America. So we are going to be away from home from around August to December.

 

Is it hard to put your actual normal life on hold for those sort of things? Do you feel sad that you are missing out on normal home stuff or does the touring and the music mean more in a weird sort of way?

Yeah it’s a weird sort of balance. I would be lying if I said I weren’t sad to miss some of those things like weddings, you know, we miss our girlfriends very much. I try and have less divide between home life and tour life which means kind of scaling back the insanity of touring. I always say to people that touring is like a perpetual Thursday. On Thursday night you do one of two things. You either go out and think that you don’t have to worry about Friday too much OR on you make yourself a nice meal and watch TV so on tour that’s how it is basically every night! All or nothing. But it also depends how many friends we have where we play. If we have 10 friends come out then sure we may have a late night and a few drinks but we aren’t doing that ten nights in a row. Going on tour doesn’t mean I’m going to stop eating salad.

 

PUP play The Owl Sanctuary on 29th August. Tickets available from musicglue.com/the-owl-sanctuary