Photo by Killian Young
PUP almost didn’t have a follow-up to 2014’s extremely excellent self-titled debut. Not long after they began working on their sophomore effort, Stefan Babcock discovered he had a hemorrhaging cyst on his vocal chords. His doctor put it in unequivocal terms: “The dream is over,” she told the budding rock star. Well, neither Babcock nor his Toronto bandmates took her diagnosis to heart, instead going forth with their second album and dubbing it, fittingly, The Dream is Over.
(Read: All Access: PUP at Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus)
Due out May 27th via SideOneDummy/Royal Mountain Records, The Dream is Over finds PUP fighting on to deliver the type of passionate punk rock they played so well on PUP. “DVP” already demonstrated that Babcock still has it, doctors be damned, and new single “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will” shows how firm the band’s grip is on their situation.
As the title suggests, they’re poking fun at their own incessant tour schedule with lines like, “Everything you do makes me wanna vomit/ And if this tour doesn’t kill you/ Buddy, I’m on it.” But as they all come together to scream, “Why can’t we just get along?” over the punk version of “Kumbaya” style chord progressions, you know this is just PUP having the type of caustic fun we love them for. Check out the track via the violent Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux-directed video below.
The Dream is Over Album Art:
The Dream is Over Tracklist:
01. If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will
02. DVP
03. Doubts
04. Sleep In The Heat
05. The Coast
06. Old Wounds
07. My Life Is Over And I Couldn’t Be Happier
08. Can’t Win
09. Familiar Patterns
10. Pine Point
Unsurprisingly, PUP will return to the road to support The Dream is Over later this spring.
PUP 2016 Tour Dates:
05/26 – Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix
06/01 – Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room
06/02 – Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
06/03 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
06/06 – Seattle, WA @ The Vera Project
06/07 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
06/09 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
06/10 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
06/11 – San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
06/14 – Austin, TX @ The Sidewinder
06/15 – Dallas, TX @ Three Links
06/17 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
06/18 – Nashville, TN @ The High Watt
06/21 – Washington, DC @ DC9
06/22 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA
06/23 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott
06/25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg
