Pup

THE UNRAVELING OF Pup began with a piano. “I bought this Fender Rhodes a year ago,” says Stefan Babcock, the band’s singer and rhythm guitarist. “‘Four Chords’ was the first thing I wrote on it because I literally knew how to play just four chords.”

The song, which opens the band’s new record, The Unraveling of PUPTheBand, started as a tossed-off joke about the guitar-based punk band wasting money on a piano. Then, five weeks into their 2021 recording sessions, bassist Nestor Chumak suggested they use the song for real — as the album’s first track.

“My brain kind of melted a little, but the more I thought about it, he was right,” Babcock says. “It made the whole record make sense.”

With its piano motif and frequent surprises (check that trap beat in 11/12 at the top of “Habits”), The Unraveling might be Pup’s most surprising record yet. But underneath the new textural elements is the same genre-pushing guitar work and punk energy that has won the band their legion of fans. “Habits” may open with a beat that seems to wobble its way off Soundcloud, but the melody bursting out of the first chorus fits right alongside emo-punk singles like 2014’s “Mabu.”

While recording, the band lived at Peter Katis’ Tarquin Studio in Connecticut, the lengthy session and all-in-one location allowing them to experiment naturally over time.

“We made choices that we would not normally have made and that I should regret, but that I don’t,” Babcock says.

Steve Sladkowski, the band’s lead guitarist, agrees.

“It really does feel like there was no other way to make this record,” he says.

At times,