Pup Find Joy in Angst, Celebrate Destruction-Loving Dogs on Two New Songs

Toronto punks Pup are back with two new songs, “Waiting” and “Kill Something,” while they’ve also announced a North American tour for 2022.

“Waiting” and “Kill Something” mark Pup’s first two singles of the year, and both were produced by Grammy-winner Peter Katis (Interpol, the National). “Waiting” also features Kathryn McCaughey, vocalist and bassist from fellow Canadian punk act Nobro.

In a statement, frontman Stefan Babcock said the song “came about by smashing the heaviest riff Nestor [Chumak] could write with the simplest, most uplifting chorus I could write, just to see what would happen. The results were very quintessentially Pup, in that the song is a flurry of darkness and anger through the joyous lens of four guys just happy to be here, four guys who don’t take themselves seriously enough to make music that doesn’t feel like fun, regardless of the subject matter.”

“Kill Something,” meanwhile, is an ode to Babcock’s dog Moose, who, according to a release, loves to destroy his favorite things, and then gets sad when they’re destroyed.

As for Pup’s 2022 tour, the band will play a handful of Canadian dates next February before launching a full run on April 1 at the Roxian Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The trek will wrap with a homecoming show, May 14, at History in Toronto. During the tour, Pup will be joined by Billy Talent, Nobro, Pinkshift, Cloud Nothings, and Sheer Mag on select dates. 

Tickets for the tour will go on sale this Friday, Nov. 12 at 10 a.m. local time. A pre-sale will start Wednesday, Nov. 10, via Spotify Fans First and Seated fan club ($1 from every ticket sold via Seated will go toward the Indian Residential School Survivors Society). Full information is available on Pup’s website. 

Pup’s last full-length album, Morbid Stuff, arrived in 2019, while last year they released an EP, This Place Sucks Ass. Earlier this year, they were one of 53 artists to contribute to The Metallica Blacklist, a covers compilation that was part of the band’s 30th anniversary for “The Black Album” (Pup contributed a rendition of “Holier than Thou”).

Pup 2022 Tour Dates

Feb. 7 – Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre #
Feb. 8 – Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre #
Feb. 10 – Calgary, AB @ Big Four #
Feb. 11 – Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Convention Centre #
Feb. 14 – Vancouver, BC @ PNE Forum #
April 1 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Roxian Theatre ^ *
April 2 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall ^ *
April 3 – Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre ^ *
April 5 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Fillmore ^ *
April 9 – Victoria, BC @ Capital Ballroom ^
April 10 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo ^
April 11 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom ^ +
April 16 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren ^ +
April 24 – Denver, CO @ The Ogden Theatre ^ +
April 27 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater ^ +
April 28 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues ^ +
April 29 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater ^ +
May 1 – Atlanta, GA @ Shaky Knees Music Festival
May 3 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel ^ +
May 4 – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz ^ +
May 5 – Richmond, VA @ The National ^ +
May 6 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall ^ +
May 7 – Washington, DC @ The Fillmore Silver Spring ^ +
May 9 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom ^ +
May 10 – Boston, MA @ House of Blues ^ +
May 11 – New York, NY @ Terminal 5 ^ +
May 13 – Montreal, QC @ MTelus ^ +
May 14 – Toronto, ON @ History ^ +

# with Billy Talent & NOBRO
^ with support from Pinkshift
* with support from Cloud Nothings
+ with support from Sheer Mag