Toronto, CA · punk · punk rock · indie punk

PUP

2 upcoming festivals ↓

Toronto's chaos-pop-punk stars — self-lacerating lyrics, unhinged energy, choruses built to be screamed back until throats give out. As big a name as this fest books.

Before PUP, Stefan Babcock, Nestor Chumak, Steve Sladkowski and Zack Mykula knew each other from growing up around Toronto, some since grade school. Working together first as Topanga, they put out a free four-track EP in 2010 without expecting it to lead anywhere, then played their first show at the Bovine Sex Club in January 2011.

The EP found an audience online quickly enough that better shows followed, and by 2012 the band, now touring with Hollerado, had signed to Hollerado's label Royal Mountain and taken the name PUP.

PUP's records pair loud, fast punk rock with intricate guitar interplay and gang vocals, Babcock's lyrics dwelling on self-deprecation, anxiety and the grind of touring, delivered with black humour. Their debut album arrived on Royal Mountain in 2013 and was reissued in the US the next year after the band signed to SideOneDummy.

The Dream Is Over followed in 2016, its title taken from a doctor's verdict on Babcock's damaged vocal cords. Morbid Stuff came in 2019, an EP called This Place Sucks Ass in 2020, The Unraveling of PUPTheBand in 2022 and Who Will Look After the Dogs? in 2025.

Live performance has always been central to the band's reputation, matched by videos and artwork that carry the same absurdist streak as the songs themselves.

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punkpunk rockindie punk