BeatRoute Magazine BC Edition March 2019
BeatRoute Magazine is a monthly arts and entertainment paper with a predominant focus on music – local, independent or otherwise. The paper started in June 2004 and continues to provide a healthy dose of perversity while exercising rock ‘n’ roll ethics. Currently BeatRoute’s AB edition is distributed in Calgary, Edmonton (by S*A*R*G*E), Banff and Canmore. The BC edition is distributed in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo. BeatRoute (AB) Mission PO 23045 Calgary, AB T2S 3A8 E. editor@beatroute.ca BeatRoute (BC) #202 – 2405 E Hastings Vancouver, BC V5K 1Y8 P. 778-888-1120
BeatRoute Magazine is a monthly arts and entertainment paper with a predominant focus on music – local, independent or otherwise. The paper started in June 2004 and continues to provide a healthy dose of perversity while exercising rock ‘n’ roll ethics.
Currently BeatRoute’s AB edition is distributed in Calgary, Edmonton (by S*A*R*G*E), Banff and Canmore. The BC edition is distributed in Vancouver, Victoria and Nanaimo. BeatRoute (AB) Mission PO 23045 Calgary, AB T2S 3A8 E. editor@beatroute.ca BeatRoute (BC) #202 – 2405 E Hastings Vancouver, BC V5K 1Y8 P. 778-888-1120
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TANJA TIZIANA<br />
MUSiC COVER STORY<br />
I mean, yeah man, the<br />
fucking apocalypse is<br />
coming. Get ready!”<br />
Lead singer, Stefan Babcock<br />
k CONTINUED FROM PG. 27<br />
something was off so they went to a clinic at Johns Hopkins<br />
Hospital. This is where he would meet the doctor who would<br />
be the source of inspiration for the album name when she<br />
uttered the four words no artist ever wants to hear — “The<br />
dream is over.”<br />
But in actuality, PUP’s journey was just beginning.<br />
Babcock recalls: “She was like, ‘Just go home, this band thing<br />
is over for you.’ So, all of us being very defiant in the face of<br />
that stuff, we decided to just keep going and we ended up getting<br />
through five weeks of that tour, which was crazy.”<br />
The actual crazy part is that when they finally landed back<br />
home in Toronto on week five, Babcock’s<br />
voice had finally had enough.<br />
“In our home market with the<br />
most pressure and the most fans and<br />
everything, just before we went on, I<br />
literally couldn’t make a sound,” Babcock<br />
continues. “It just wasn’t there<br />
PUP<br />
Friday, <strong>March</strong> 29<br />
With Pkew Pkew Pkew<br />
and Brass<br />
The Wise Hall<br />
SOLD OUT<br />
at all. And we played that day and I was just croaking. After<br />
that I went to another specialist in Toronto and found out I<br />
hemorrhaged my vocal chords. Essentially the cyst burst apart<br />
and filled my vocal chords with blood.”<br />
Vocal chords have to meet to make a sound and the blood<br />
was preventing Babcock from using his voice so he had no<br />
choice but to stop. After weeks of silence and months of healing,<br />
Babcock eventually trained himself to sing again. It was<br />
a total of four months recovery before the band could even<br />
start thinking about playing shows again. While their future<br />
was never certain, the band persevered.<br />
From the “Dark Days” Babcock sings about on their 2013<br />
self-titled debut to the “dark thoughts,” as heard on the track<br />
“Scorpion Hill” from their soon-to-be-released Morbid Stuff,<br />
the band has always maintained their emo composure blended<br />
with pure punk rock sensibilities, but the reality is PUP is thriving<br />
in their nihilistic tendencies that have carried them all over<br />
the world many times over.<br />
Are things really that bad though?<br />
“Yeah, pretty not good,” Babcock says. “But music is what<br />
we do because it’s fun. That’s why we play in a band and that’s<br />
why we quit our jobs to make no money and it’s a really positive<br />
way for us to deal with a lot of negative garbage in this world.”<br />
It makes sense then that one of the pre-orders for Morbid<br />
Stuff is the “Annihilation Preparedness Kit,” complete with an<br />
inflatable boat.<br />
“I mean, yeah man, the fucking apocalypse is coming. Get<br />
ready!”<br />
I<br />
n the meantime, PUP have three already-sold-out<br />
west coast shows scheduled for Calgary, Edmonton<br />
and Vancouver. You could say the band is road testing<br />
their new album in some tried-and-true Canadian markets<br />
before they leap over the pond for a string of dates<br />
throughout the UK, France and Germany.<br />
“It’s funny because when we do something cool like<br />
play smaller shows, all it does is make people pissed at us because<br />
they couldn’t get tickets. We get so many angry messages<br />
and try to reply to as many of them as we can,” Babcock says<br />
with a genuine smile on his face. “Sometimes bands make decisions<br />
selfishly because we want to play a smaller show. We’ll be<br />
back and play a bigger room and everyone will get the opportunity<br />
to see us eventually, but if we don’t do these kind of things<br />
for ourselves once in a while, we’re fucked.”<br />
Regardless of the size of shows they’re playing, PUP has succeeded<br />
at capturing the DIY work ethic of the new millennium.<br />
Babcock knows things are fucked but it’s through embracing<br />
them with a sense of humour and humility that they’re able to<br />
rise up and persevere. Having climbed the ranks of the music<br />
industry in a most respectable way, Babcock cut his teeth in the<br />
all ages scene, playing in a ska band called Stop Drop ‘N’ Skank<br />
(it was a different time back then, okay?), and eventually found<br />
himself working music industry odd jobs, including marketing<br />
for Toronto-based indie imprint Arts & Crafts. He was even the<br />
manager for METZ at one point in time and has been known to<br />
offer grant writing tips and assistance to younger, less experienced<br />
bands.<br />
Music is a lifestyle but punk rock is a commitment that ultimately<br />
chooses you. And while PUP continues to climb the<br />
ranks of the music industry and gain notoriety through their<br />
catchy songs and impressively executed music videos, they’ve<br />
never forgotten where they came from because they’re still active<br />
members of the same scene they grew up in.<br />
“As much as we’ve all been a part of building a community<br />
since we were 15 playing in bands, all of the people who have<br />
helped us along the way have really inspired us. It made us realize<br />
that once you get a little bit of traction as a band, it’s your<br />
duty to help other people.”<br />
Later on that night, three active and notable Toronto bands<br />
— Casper Skulls, Greys and Chastity — are playing a show at<br />
a venue in downtown Toronto. In the middle of Chastity’s set,<br />
looking out into the sea of fans, you can see Babcock wearing<br />
the same clothes he was in earlier that day during our interview,<br />
rocking out with ear plugs in and a huge pint of beer in his<br />
hand. The big smile on his face suggests he’s clearly surrounded<br />
by friends and you can tell he wouldn’t rather be anywhere else.<br />
Because no matter the weather, it’s the music and the community<br />
you’re a part of that carry you through those dark winter<br />
nights. ,<br />
28 BEATROUTE MARCH <strong>2019</strong>