Toronto rock band PUP has been playing together for over a decade, but their fan base has increased exponentially since 2015.
With the release of 2019's Morbid Stuff, they are on track to become one of Canada's hottest exports of the new decade. From starting up to breaking through, the pop-punk band has embraced the liberating power of feeling angry.
A Band Is Born
Like Blue Rodeo and Barenaked Ladies, the band came together first as friends. Nestor Chumak (bass), Steve Sladkowski (guitar) and Zack Mykula (drums) attended Humberside Collegiate Institute together in Toronto's west end.
The three teenagers would occasionally see Stefan Babcock, at music venues where his ska band Stop Drop N Skank played. In 2010, the friends recorded a self-titled four-track EP together as "Topanga" –named for a character from the 1990s television sitcom Boy Meets World.
Members of the punk band PUP (Nestor Chumak; Steve Sladkowski; Zack Mykula; Stefan Babcock) in their childhood neighbourhood of the Junction in Toronto.
Photo by Vanessa Heins
PUP performs their song Morbid Stuff during the 2019 Polaris Music Prize Gala at the Carlu in Toronto.
Photo by Dustin Rabin
As Topanga, the group started to play live shows. They toured with Canadian indie rock band Hollerado and signed with the label Royal Mountain Records. While recording their first full-length studio album, the band decided it was time for a new name. Topanga became PUP, a self-deprecating acronym of "Poor Use of Potential", and how Babcock's grandmother described playing in a rock band.
Their 2013 self-titled debut release received critical praise. The band signed with SideOneDummy Records and re-released the album in the United States. They spent the next two years tours extensively, across Canada, the U.S., Europe, and Australia. In one of those years, they played 250 shows. Their return to Toronto for the 2015 Vans Warped Tour at the Molson Amphitheatre was a next-level homecoming.
Watch: Dark Days
Like many bands, the members of PUP spent much of their time on the road touring throughout Canada and the United States. In 2015, the band released an extended video for the song "Dark Days" off their 2013 album, PUP. The animated video portrays a real-life, honest look at life on the road. The video was nominated for a 2016 JUNO Award.
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This online exhibition uses third-party applications including Spotify and YouTube. Check with your organization’s web administrator if you are unable to access content from these channels in the exhibition.
Courtesy of PUP. Please note: this third-party video does not provide closed captions.
View Transcript[A van carrying members of the punk band PUP drives on a narrow rural road in the winter. The band members are exhausted, Stefan Babcock is driving the van, Zack Mykula is eating snacks, Steve Sladkowski is flipping off the cameramen, and Nestor Chumak is sleeping. The band arrives in Edmonton where they stay at a room. Nestor Chumak is showing two thumbs up. The band performs at a local bar to a small but enthusiastic audience. Stefan Babcock sings and Zack Mykula throws up in the washroom. Nestor Chumak helps the near unconscious Zack Mykula out of the washroom. The band continues its journey. They are headed to Minneapolis. Stefan Babcock is driving the van. Nestor Chumak is in the front passenger seat. The other two members of the band are asleep in the back of the van. Zack Mykula hands his passport to a border guard. The van reaches Chicago. The band performs at a large concert. After the concert Nestor is standing at a desk hoping to sell the band's merchandise but there are no customers. The band is on the road again. Nestor drives the van, Stefan Babcock reads a book, Zack Mykula is using his phone and Steve Sladkowski is looking at the winter scenery. The band performs again. After the performance, band members celebrate in the cold behind their van. The band is in New York City. The Statue of Liberty is visible in the background. The rear window of their van is broken and the hole is covered with tarp and duct tape. Members of the band are freezing inside the van. Zack Mykula is video chatting with a young woman on his phone. A flashing sign saying "insufficient funds" is on display. The band is travelling at night. They are accompanied by three women who sit on the back seat of the van. Stefan Babcock swallows a pill and he has a vision where he grows multiple arms that take the shape of an eagle's wings while Babcock's mouth is replaced by an eagle's beak. After another performance, the band is hosted at the home of one of their fan. They sleep in sleeping bags on the floor. Stefan Babcock is writing on paper until the morning. He is then looking at a child who is being fed by his mother. Stefan Babcock's head is surrounded by sparkling lights. Back in Toronto, a street sign advertises a Home Coming Show of the PUP at a store name TARG. The band performs for a large crowd and is photographed by a photographer. Friends and family wave and hold up a sigh saying "WELCOME HOME PUP" in front of an old building in Toronto. One of the members is shown from the back falling onto his bed in his bedroom. Stefan Babcock is holding his pet chameleon on his finger. The band is at the airport looking at a large airplane. A phone with broken screen is shown with a message saying "EUROPE TOUR BOOKED". Leaving the airport, the band poses in front of Salford Lads Club with Zack Mykula holding a sign saying "LESS IS MORRISSEY". The band is looking at a mural. Stefan Babcock is singing upside down during a concert and then he falls on the ground. On the road again, Stefan Babcock is reading a book, Zack Mykula and Steve Sladkowski are using their phones. Nestor Chumak drives the van on rural road in the winter. The band performs to a small and unenthusiastic audience. After the performance, Nestor Chumak puts his equipment in the back of the van. It is raining and Zack Mykula and Steve Sladkowski sit and drink in a bar name "Bodega". They are sad. Nestor Chumak drives again and Steve Sladkowski sits on the rear passenger seat. His face is covered in bruises. A flashback to a few hours earlier shows Steve Sladkowski going into a bar to use the washroom. A woman follows Steve Sladkowski into the washroom and begins undressing. Next, Steve Sladkowski is punched in the face by a muscular man in a narrow alley while the woman laying against the wall. The van is shown sliding across the road and in the next scene, Nestor Chumak yells while he turns a table upside down in a pub. Zack Mykula and Steve Sladkowski are surprised by this. The van slid off the road and is damaged. Stefan Babcock is throwing up during a concert. The tired band members wait at the airport for their flight back to Toronto while images of the van accident and the muscular man beating up Steve Sladkowski are on screen. The band is driving across Canada when Nestor Chumak notices something. Next, members of the band climb on top of their van to observe the aurora borealis. The band performs at an open air concert where bonfires are lit and the band members are cheered on by an enthusiastic crowd. Zack Mykula is video chatting with a young man and woman who are holding a cake with the decorative text on the cake saying "Happy Birthday". PUP performs at Lee's Palace where a sign states that all tickets are sold out. The band performs in front of a large and excited audience. For a short second, the image of Steve Sladkowski being beaten up by a muscular man is on screen. A collection of social media posts by the band are shown. The band arrive in their van at a concert hall near an amusement park. They are greeted by thousands of fans. The band members are surprised. Band members are sitting at the airport. Large white text appears saying "PUP" and "DARK DAYS". The video ends with live footage from a PUP concert.]
Lyrics
This endless night
this funeral dirge
we celebrate life
at the end of the earth
when everything is gone
there'll be nothing left to lose
the ice is closing in
and nothing will remain
we took what we could get
and we burned it anyways
with all those secrets
we swore we'd take 'em to the grave
the light will falter and will fade
and in the darkness we'll say
this winter hasn't been so rough
oh it was cold but still it wasn't cold enough
to freeze the blood beneath my spine
and at least I survived
we're sleeping through the days
and sinking like a ship
we're wasting away
bit by bit
everyone is gone
and everything is changed
it won't ever be the same
and when it's over we'll say
this winter hasn't been so rough
oh it was cold but still it wasn't cold enough
to freeze the blood beneath my spine
and at least i survived
we've had some dark days
we're in the thick of it now
and when the ice breaks
there will be no one around
we've had some dark days
we're in the thick of it now
and when the ice breaks
there will be no one around
this winter hasn't been so rough
oh it was cold but it wasn't cold enough
to freeze the blood beneath my spine
and at least i survived
this winter hasn't been so rough (we've had some dark days)
oh it was cold but still it wasn't cold enough (we're in the thick of it now)
to freeze the blood beneath my spin (and when the ice breaks)
at least I'll survive.
I think that reputation kind of got around, that we're these touring workhorses, and then we were kind of trapped in that cycle.
— Stefan Babcock, Toronto Star, December 2016
At Journey's End?
The level of touring took its toll on the band, their relationships, and their bodies. Their 2016 sophomore album, The Dream is Over, is from a direct quote from a doctor Babcock saw for damaged vocal chords.
According to Babcock, this was a dark period in his life: “I spent a lot of time revaluating my life, wondering if I was going to be able to play shows again, just hoping that everything would be okay.”
Listen: DVP
I just don't wanna die and I don't want to live.— Pup, "DVP"
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This online exhibition uses third-party applications including Spotify and YouTube. Check with your organization’s web administrator if you are unable to access content from these channels in the exhibition.
The album The Dream is Over was shortlisted for the 2016 Polaris Prize and their tour included music festivals such as WayHome, Lollapalooza, and Osheaga. Poster design by Ben Clarkson
PUP's poster for their performance at the 2019 Polaris Music Prize Gala. Poster design by Katie Hicks
PUP members Zack Mykula; Nestor Chumak; Stefan Babcock and Steve Sladkowski pose for a picture on stage at Danforth Music Hall in Toronto.
Photo by Amanda Fotes
Going Forward
As PUP was planning their follow-up to The Dream is Over, their label, SideOneDummy, suspended operations, leaving the band without a place to release their music.
Undeterred, PUP launched its own imprint for their next album, Morbid Stuff (2019), which Billboard magazine described as "a white-knuckled, shout-along joyride that finds catharsis in battling the very demons that threaten to derail [the band]."
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Stefan Babcock described writing music as a process to explore what was going on in his brain. Babcock sees performing with the band as a cathartic and productive part of handling his mood disorder. The band donated a dollar from every ticket sold on their 2019 tour to the Trevor Project, which provides crisis-counselling for LGBTQ2+ youth.
Watch: Kids
In January 2019, PUP released their first single, "Kids", from their Morbid Stuff album. The accompanying music video to the song imagines the future of 2059, in which the band has broken up and one band member, Stefan Babcock, has gone missing.
Like much of their other work, the song and music video depicts a sober, even bleak, perspective about the future, as Stefan Babcock explained in a 2019 Rolling Stone interview: "Our goal was to sorta set viewers up for this happy feel-good ending, and then at the last minute, crush them with darkness."
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This online exhibition uses third-party applications including Spotify and YouTube. Check with your organization’s web administrator if you are unable to access content from these channels in the exhibition.
In their video for Morbid Stuff's lead single, "Kids", PUP imagines Toronto and their future selves in the year 2059. Courtesy of PUP. Please note: this third-party video does not provide closed captions.
View Transcript[A montage of the band PUP touring in a van and performing at concerts is shown. Black background with the word "PUP" appears. Nestor Chumak walks into his daughter's room. She is wearing a virtual reality headset and gloves while playing on a virtual reality game.
In the game, Nestor Chumak's daughter plays on the guitar with the members of PUP. Nestor Chumak turns of the gaming console. His daughter removes her virtual reality headset and picks up her glasses. A text appears saying "Nestor, bass player, forty years in the future". At Yonge and Dundas Square in Toronto, an aged Zack Mykula with long beard plays on drums and buckets. A text appears saying "Toronto, 2059".
Another text appears next to the bearded man saying "Zack, Drummer". Nestor Chumak tries to put on his daughter's virtual reality headset but his daughter objects to this. After a brief argument, Nestor leaves the room. At Yonge and Dundas Square, Zack Mykula is looking at a holographic sign advertising Steve Sladkowski's business with the text "Sladklothing by Sladkowski". A text appears next to Steven Sladkowski saying "Steve, Guitarist".
Nestor Chumak sits in a dark room reading news about himself. Next, Nestor is sitting in a small public square in Toronto reading the news about the fourth member of PUP, Stefan Babcock. The news title says "PUP Frontman Found". Another sign reveals that Stefan Babcock is "barely alive". The same sign is seen by Zack Mykula at a different place.
Nestor Chumak tears the newspaper into shreds. Steven Sladkowski sits in a white room. His wears a glass box on his head that preserves him in a youthful state. He is reading the news while being fed through a tube. A young woman with a red sign under her right eye approaches Zack Mykula on the street and hands him a newspaper with the news about Stefan Babcock. Next, the young woman and Zack Mykula meet Steve Sladkowski. Steve and Zack communicate through 'inter-cranial texting'. Zack touches Steve's glass cube revealing a healed wound on his palm. Steve has a similar wound on his palm.
A flashback to the past shows members of PUP cutting their palms with broken glass and holding hands. Nestor Chumak enters his daughter's room. His daughter is not home. He puts on the virtual reality headset and sees a young Zack Mykula, Stefan Babcock, Steve Sladkowski and Nestor Chumak performing in a small room. Nestor is shocked when he sees his younger self. After removing the headset, he finds an old dossier containing various items linked to Nestor's days in the PUP.
He watches a holographic video of a PUP concert. The woman with the red sign under her eyes enters the room with Zack Mykula and Steve Sladkowski. Zack drives all of them to an old recreational van. Stefan Babcock steps out of the van. He has an eye patch and is holding a shotgun. A text appears saying "Stefan, vocals". Stefan recognizes his former band but he is sick and needs to return to the van. Inside the van, the woman with the red sign under her eye looks at a guitar. Steve Sladkowski removes the cube from his head and immediately ages forty years. Members of the band hug each other. Stefan Babcock dies.
At dawn, Nestor Chumak, Zack Mykula and Steve Sladkowski dig four graves. They bury Stefan Babcock and leave the other three graves open but write their names on the gravestones. Nestor Chumak is seen teaching his daughter to play on the guitar. The screen cuts to black and text saying "little dipper" appears.]
Lyrics
Just like the kids
I've been navigating my way through the mind-numbing reality of a godless existence
Which, at this point in my hollow and vapid life, has erased what little ambition I've got left
And I've embraced the calamity
With an attachment and a passive disinterest
Living out the back of my '97 Camry
Wondering how the hell I got myself into this
I guess it doesn't matter anyway
I don't care about nothing but you
I guess it doesn't matter anyway
'Cause I don't care about nothing
I don't care about nothing but you
No, I don't care about nothing
She said "I'm sick of it all
Your little games are getting old
Your little songs are getting way too literal
How about some goddamn subtlety for a change?"
She said "I feel like I've come untethered
In a room without walls
I'm drifting on the dark and empty sea of nothing
It doesn't feel bad, it feels like nothing at all"
I guess it doesn't matter anyway
I don't care about nothing but you
I guess it doesn't matter anyway
'Cause I don't care about nothing
And I had it maxed out
I had a feeling, oh
Nothing is working
And everything's bleeding, oh
I should've tapped out
Given into my demons, oh
It's alright it's just a flesh wound
You said you'd never saw it coming
I'm pretty happy lying here with you
It's pretty good to feel something
I don't care about nothing but you
No I don't care about nothing
I don't care about nothing but you
No I don't care about nothing
And I had it maxed out
I had a feeling, oh
Nothing is working
And everything's bleeding, oh
I should've tapped out
Given into my demons, oh
I had it maxed out (I had it maxed out)
And nothing is working (Nothing is working)
And everything's bleeding, oh.
2020
Building on their success of the last decade, the band continues to tour. In 2020, they were scheduled to take part in the famous Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. However, due to the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the 2020 Coachella Festival was delayed to 2021.
The outbreak also forced PUP to wind up its 2020 tour earlier than expected, a serious financial blow. "Ninety percent of our income is made through touring and merch," said singer Stefan Babcock. The band was able to recoup some of its losses through the online platform BandCamp, which waived all artist fees during the pandemic to allow musicians to try and make up some of the income they would have earned through touring. Despite the pandemic, the band released its fourth studio album in late 2020.
Pup performs at Toronto's Echo Beach in July 2019.
Photo by Amanda Fotes
Dive Deeper
Derek Emerson and Shawn Chirrey, Tomorrow is Too Late: Toronto Hardcore Punk in the 1980s. UXB Press Canada, 2018.