Toronto punk band plays Peter Clark Hall
PUP, like all truly good punk bands, endorses a message that communicates both flagrant disregard for the power structures that be and an open-minded approach to inclusivity within their scene. Formed in 2013, the band is made up of Stefan Babcock, Nestor Chumak, Zack Mykula, and Guelph alumnus Steve Sladkowski. The show was opened by Guelph locals sparkle-punk Cupcake Ductape and Toronto-based tourmates Pkew Pkew Pkew. While the boys expressed how excited they were to be playing in Guelph when they trooped on stage, to Sladkowski, the return was particularly charged.
During a phone interview while the band was in the Netherlands, Sladkowski explained that he studied music in the School of Fine Arts and Music on the president’s scholarship from 2006 to 2010. He paused and said with a laugh, “It was ten years ago, holy shit.”
As a student at the University of Guelph, Sladkowski was deeply involved with the arts community on campus. “I was on the music students’ association, I worked with a lot of professors and people like Howard Spring, Edward Phillips, Ellen Waterman, and Jesse Stewart,” he told The Ontarion.
As the band launched into their first song, the moshpit sprung, unbidden, as if from the void, in the middle of Peter Clark Hall. After the opening song, singer Stefan Babcock checked in with fans, examining the pit and asking, “How’s everybody doing? Everyone good?” To the sweet sound of enthusiastic roaring, the boys crashed into the next song.
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Intensity printed all over the band’s faces, PUP seemed particularly intent on giving the concert-goers a good show. Sladkowski credits the University of Guelph and the community at large for a lot of who he is as a person and as a musician. While the music program is not necessarily well-known, “It was really really good for someone like me who kind of was a bit of a punk, who studied and did what he wanted to do,” said Sladkowski.
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The freedom of the music program allowed him to explore his identity as an artist and as a performer: “I was kind of a bit self-directed, so that was really helpful because I was going out and trying to find gigs, and asking questions, and cherry-picking what I wanted to learn.” It’s all stuff he uses regularly, concluding, “[It’s] had a long-lasting effect on how I think about music, creativity, and life which I think is what a university education in the arts is supposed to do for you.”
As they ripped through their blistering set-list, the band members of PUP seemed to become extensions of one another, communicating with mere looks, snarls, and shit-eating grins. The ease of communication and collaboration is a skill to which Sladkowski attributes the University of Guelph.
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“Continuous collaboration and experiments—a lot of that stuff I was first exposed to at Guelph,” said Sladkowski. Sladkowski honed this talent through classes and by working with groups such as Kazoo! and the Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation, as well as creative forces such as Scott Thompson and Ajay Heble. These collaborative skills have contributed to one of PUP’s greatest strengths; their unbelievably visually appealing music videos.
“We’ve been very lucky to have some incredibly talented friends,” explained Sladkowski. He mentioned two friends in particular; Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux and Chandler Levack. “Both happened to be looking for new projects when we needed a music video made […] It always starts with us sitting together with a bottle of whiskey or a couple of beers and just talking about whatever was happening.”
He concluded, “it’s great to have people who are such creative forces who can envision things for the band.” The fact that they’re friends? “A bonus.”
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“This one’s called ‘Guilt Trip,’” smiled Babcock, setting the crowd off like a pack of bottle-rockets. Levack and Schaulin-Rioux directed, among others, the music video for “Guilt Trip,” which features a group of actors playing the band as boys. Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard stars as a young Babcock. It’s no surprise, then, that Wolfhard plays their favourite character on the show.
“Oh my gosh, my friend Finn,” enthused Sladkowski, “It’s been crazy to watch him, he’s such an exceptional talent.” The band’s Twitter account interacts with Wolfhard regularly, with Wolfhard wholeheartedly supporting PUP’s nomination for the Polaris Music Prize. “He’s the same kid that he was when we met him at a gig in Seattle four years ago. I’ve never met someone who’s so calm and cool and unaffected by fame,” Sladkowski told The Ontarion.
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PUP managed to meet up with Wolfhard recently and shared, “I’m just very excited for him. He’s just a big nerdy kid who loves acting and punk rock. He’s going to be a big star. It’s going to be awesome.”
PUP gave the Guelph crowd a satisfying combination of their debut self-titled album and their newest release The Dream is Over. The jarring tracks from PUP interspersed with The Dream is Over’s matured (but no less ragged) sounds created a tangible tension.
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Sladkowski highlighted the differences between their debut and sophomore album: “We knew what we didn’t like on the first record in terms of writing and recording the songs.” With getting older and gaining experience, the band felt comfortable making changes to the writing and recording process, as well as the musical content. “I think [The Dream is Over] is a little more concise and focused, and heavier. We wanted to go with sort of the heavier elements, whether that’s a metaphysical thing or a sonic thing.”
Another difference? Timing. “It was much shorter and much more intensive amount of time to write the second record and I think that has made it a little more focused and a little more consistent in terms of sonic material and songwriting,” he said.
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As the night progressed, the multi-valent tension that Pup had been carefully cultivating was reaching explosive levels. The aggression of the band’s stances leveled against the evident kindness in their interactions with the crowd between songs, the friction between bleak lyrics and upbeat chord progressions, and the chaos of the crowd against the band’s vocal harmonies created an electric atmosphere.
Sladkowski acknowledged that building tension is a very deliberate choice: “There’s a tension in juxtaposition… we kind of maintain this element of joy in the actual music of it and the melodies are catchy and accessible.” The element of joy and the accessibility allows the band to remind themselves not to take things too seriously. “There is a tongue in cheek element that is definitely intentional.”
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He continued, “We’re aware that most of the time there’s an inherent rub between the music and the lyrics.” To Sladkowski, that’s what makes good music: “With writing good pop, punk, and aggressive music, there is a fine balance between tension and release.”
Despite the tension and aggression that their music can inspire, PUP consistently tries to keep their shows safe. “I know you’re having fun jumping around, but let’s take a moment to thank security for keeping everyone safe,” said Babcock during a brief pause. The crowd, which had been jumping and crashing around only moments before under the keen gaze of several security guards, let out a cheer of approval.
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To the boys of PUP, nothing is more punk than being socially responsible. “We don’t make particularly political music, which isn’t to say that we are apolitical. It just to me seems like the time for four cis white males to be pontificating about their beliefs is not right now and not in punk music.” Not “pontificating” opens up a lot more time for other things. “So,” began Sladkowski, “We focus on, much in the way of other punk bands, really trying to make our shows safe for people.”
The tangible respect PUP feels for their audience was evident during every second of the show. “We’re really focusing on making the atmosphere good so that people feel like they can come to a show with their friends and not feel at all threatened in any way… except for maybe an aggressive mosh pit,” Sladkowski amended with a laugh. It goes both ways, though, he clarified. “We’ve been very lucky in that we have a fan base who tends to police themselves and to me that’s the punk community that I grew up in.”
[trx_slider engine=”swiper” custom=”yes” count=”3″ offset=”0″ orderby=”date” order=”desc” controls=”yes” pagination=”no” titles=”no” descriptions=”0″ links=”yes” crop=”yes” autoheight=”yes” slides_per_view=”1″ slides_space=”0″ interval=”5000″ top=”inherit” bottom=”inherit” left=”inherit” right=”inherit”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pup08_danabellamyRGB.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pup06_danabellamyRGB.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pup04_danabellamyRGB.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pup02_danabellamyRGB.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pkewpkewpkew04_danabellamyRGB.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pkewpkewpkew03_danabellamyRGB.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pkewpkewpkew02_danabellamyRGB.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/pkewpkewpkew01_danabellamyRGB.jpg”] [trx_slider_item src=”https://www.theontarion.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cupcakeductape01_danabellamyRGB.jpg”] [/trx_slider]Photos by Dana Bellamy.
Everyone is responsible for making sure a show is comfortable and safe. Sladkowski’s usually excitable tone grew a little somber, “It’s not something that’s perfect. We’ve missed things… Things happen—whether it’s someone getting hurt or a woman is made to feel unsafe. It horrifies us.”
“We don’t do encores,” laughed Babcock as PUP neared the end of the set. “We’ll play two more songs for you guys, though.” While an encore only serves to delay the inevitable, PUP, musically, and in their shows, endorse ripping off the Band-Aid sans anesthetic. As the breakdown at the end of “Factories” screamed sonic feedback into the audience’s ears, Babcock leapt, guitar in hand, to the top of a monitor. Soaring high above the crowd, both literally and figuratively, the boys of PUP are living the dream regardless of whether it’s dead, over, or still fighting.
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“If you believe in something and are passionate about something and care about it you should do it,” came Sladkowski’s earnest voice over the phone from 6,000 km away. Sladkowski said that if he had followed the advice of high school principals and guidance counselors and pursued something other than music, “I wouldn’t be in Haarlem, Netherlands talking to you.”
The four friends are living proof that, “It’s cool to just say ‘fuck you’ to anyone who doesn’t think you should do what you love.” As for final advice to young artists and creators, “Get an accountant and be smart… the government will fuck you if you don’t pay attention. That’s the most punk rock thing I could say.” Most importantly though, Sladkowski acknowledged, “Keep creating, write rad shit, take any opportunity that sounds cool. Fuck ’em.”