PUP SHARE NEW SINGLE “GET DUMBER” FEATURING JEFF ROSENSTOCK

26th March 2025 0 By Laura Jane

Toronto punk heroes PUP – comprised of Stefan Babcock, Nestor Chumak, Zack Mykula, and Steve Sladkowski – will release their highly anticipated forthcoming album Who Will Look After The Dogs? on May 2nd via Little Dipper / Rise Records. The band have already previewed the record with “Hallways” and “Paranoid,” and today they share another ripper entitled “Get Dumber” featuring long-time friend and collaborator Jeff Rosenstock. On the
scathing “Get Dumber,” with backing vocals and unintentionally flubbed lyrics from Jeff Rosenstock, PUP is classically searing in all the best ways.

LISTEN / WATCH “GET DUMBER”

Stefan Babcock says of the song, “I wrote ‘Get Dumber” in Jeff’s basement. I was house-sitting for him while he was on tour. I recorded the first demo for it on his guitar using his mics and his computer. Maybe because the ghost of Jeff was in the room with me, I always imagined our voices on this song together, so I was very happy when he agreed to sing on it.

“We recorded the vocals together, in the same room, facing each other. What that means is that we both had to nail it at the same time because we couldn’t really cut between takes. On the first take, he forgot a line in the second verse and said “ahhhhhh, lyrics” instead. I couldn’t finish the take because I was laughing too hard. Anyway, he practiced singing the correct lyrics but then
we decided those lyrics kinda sucked and he should just stick to “ahhhh lyrics” because it’s funny and the song is called Get Dumber. We nailed it on the second take.”

PUP will go on a co-headline tour with Jeff Rosenstock in the Autumn across the US – with the tour aptly titled “PUP + JEFF ROSENSTOCK PRESENT: A CATACLYSMIC
RAPTURE OF FRIENDSHIPNESS”.

Who Will Look After The Dogs?, PUP’s pummelling and cathartic fifth LP, is their most immediate, no-frills, and hard-hitting full-length yet. It was made in Los Angeles with producer John Congleton over the course of three weeks, and it’s the culmination of PUP’s past decade of constant touring and their palpable, livewire chemistry. The album evokes the lightning-in-a-bottle intensity of their self-titled debut (except they are much better at their instruments now), and finds our self-deprecating frontman Stefan Babcock at his most reflective, vulnerable and prolific.

Over 12 tracks, Babcock excavates his life’s relationships – romantic, with his bandmates, and most ruthlessly, his relationship to himself. There’s plenty of growth, but also plenty of unpredictable mayhem in the arrangements and an acerbic bite in the writing. And while PUP historically are at one another’s throats during the album process, this time they scrapped their tedious perfectionism and rediscovered the joy of making loud music together. They had fun this time, we swear.

PRE-ORDER WHO WILL LOOK AFTER THE DOGS? NOW

“Within days of announcing our last album, coincidentally titled The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND, my life unexpectedly imploded. I wrote the lyrics for ‘Hallways’ while all that was going on. It was a weird fucking week,” says Babcock. “The title of our new record, Who Will Look After The Dogs?, is what I wrote at the top of the page, the very first thing written for this album. I think it’s devastating, but in a ‘holy shit this is overdramatic’ kinda way. At least in context of the line that comes before it. That’s what makes it funny to us. That overblown stuff we all say in our dark moments can be hilarious once you’ve cooled off a bit. I don’t know if anyone else thinks it’s funny, but sometimes you gotta laugh at yourself. It’s the only way out of the abyss. Trust me.”

PUP
Who Will Look After The Dogs?
Out May 2nd on Little Dipper / Rise Records

01 No Hope
02 Olive Garden
03 Concrete
04 Get Dumber
05 Hunger For Death
06 Needed To Hear It
07 Paranoid
08 Falling Outta Love
09 Hallways
10 Cruel
11 Best Revenge
12 Shut Up

To follow on from their sold-out dates with Jimmy Eat World here at the tail-end of last year and in support of their new record, PUP will return to UK and EU shores for a headline tour in May with full dates listed below.

For the EU/UK dates, the band will take Illuminati Hotties along as their main support (all shows excluding Spain) and Goo will additionally join for the UK run.

Go to www.puptheband.com for all on-sale and ticketing information.

UK and EU:

07/05/2025 – Birmingham, UK @ XOYO Birmingham
08/05/2025 – Leeds, UK @ Project House
10/05/2025 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz
11/05/2025 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 (TV Studio)
12/05/2025 – Newcastle, UK @ Newcastle University
13/05/2025 – Bristol, UK @ Marble Factory
15/05/2025 – Southampton, UK @ Engine Rooms
16/05/2025 – London, UK @ O2 Forum Kentish Town
18/05/2025 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
20/05/2025 – Cologne, Germany @ Club Volta
21/05/2025 – Hamburg, Germany @ Logo
22/05/2025 – Berlin, Germany @ Hole44
23/05/2025 – Munich, Germany @ Strom
25/05/2025 – Paris, France @ Bellevilloise
27/05/2025 – Madrid, Spain @ Sala Mon
28/05/2025 – Barcelona, Spain @ Upload
29/05/2025 – València, Spain @ Loco Club
30/05/2025 – San Sebastian, Spain @ Dabadaba