PUP, SWG3, Glasgow review - controlled chaos from Canadian punks

According to PUP lead singer Stefan Babcock, the Toronto foursome practiced together a grand total of twice before embarking on their current UK and European tour.

Given the band’s well-known habit for disagreements and teetering on the edge of imploding, that might have been a wise decision. It didn’t affect the show itself, for while the group’s history is littered with chaos, this was a lively but controlled display. 

There was little fuss or frills here, instead around 20 tracks being hammered through with a consistent bounce, inside SWG3’s pillar strewn concrete bunker of a Glasgow venue. It started with moshing to the gigantic chorus of “No Hope”, ended on the rapid-fire “Full-Blown Meltdown” with Babcock crowd-surfing around the very sweaty masses, and featured little let-up in-between.

That is no bad thing, for PUP are very good at what they do. The clap-a-long conclusion of “Free At Last”, the screaming defiance of stand out track “Totally Fine” and a version of “Morbid Stuff” propelled along by the rambunctious drumming of Zack Mykula fizzed with energy and wit, and fully justified Babcock and bandmates Steve Sladkowski and Nestor Chumak leaping around like they had just stood on an errant piece of LEGO.

However, 21 songs is a lot when the majority follow similar lines, and there were a few points when sheer noise and fury couldn’t overcome tedium setting in. When they went for the trusty call and response cry on “Sleep In The Heat” it felt like diminishing returns, even if the group’s overall pop-punk has more class to it than many contemporaries.

That’s arguably because they veer much more towards punk than pop, and while the group know how to pen a decent power-pop chorus the night’s best moments tended to come when they went heavier and harder, often tweaking the formula to suit. A thrashy “Paranoid”, where the band were joined by members of support act Illuminati Hotties, came across with true ferociousness, as did the thicker, swampy vibe of “Get Dumber” and you wished for a little more of that, though the fact both those tracks came from this year’s fifth album “Who Will Look After The Dogs?”  suggested a band still growing.

There’s also a playfulness still there though, given they introduced the superbly titled “PUPTHEBAND Inc Is Filing For Bankruptcy” as being the worst song, “according to Google” in their repertoire. It’s actually pretty good, a highlight from their music industry mocking fourth album. Like many a punk band they seem to flourish when self-mythologising themselves, a point proven when they sped through the irresistible chaos of oldie “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will”. They are still breathing, and when they were joined by Illuminati Hotties singer Sarah Tudzin for an all guns blazing version of “Reservoir” there was reason to be glad of that.      

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