Named after Stefan Babcock’s favourite (but incredibly “sh*tty”) guitar, PUP’s new single Matilda is the latest banger taken from their upcoming album The Unraveling Of PUPTHEBAND.
Big PUP news! After announcing that new album The Unraveling Of PUPTHEBAND would arrive in April, the Toronto punks have just shared another ace new single, Matilda, and announced a UK and European tour for later this year.
Speaking about their latest track (following the already-released Robot Writes A Love Song and Waiting), frontman Stefan Babcock explains, “Matilda is the name of my favourite guitar. She was a gift from my friend Ryan, after watching me accidentally break the only guitar I owned in the middle of a long tour. I had no money to buy a replacement, and Ryan’s act of kindness is up there on my list of 'nicest things anyone’s ever done for me'. I played Matilda non-stop for seven years at every PUP show, even when my bandmates started complaining that she sounded like shit.
“As the band got bigger, the pressure to sound better was building and so I bought a 'good' guitar and played Matilda less and less. Before I knew it I hadn’t played her in over a year. I wrote this song based on this intense feeling of guilt and sadness and shame and nostalgia and regret, watching her rot away in a corner. I love this guitar and I love Ryan and wanted to do right by them, and I felt like I’d failed them both. I convinced the band that Matilda deserved one last rip on a PUP record, and I played her during the bridge of this song. It sounds so shitty. But good shitty. Great shitty.
“For me, it was the most joyful and cathartic moment in the entire making of this record.”
The Unraveling Of PUPTHEBAND is due out on April 1 via BMG / Rise Records.
Check out Matilda below:
Catch PUP live at the following:
March
27 Hamilton, ON – Bridgeworks
28 Kingston, ON – The Ale House
29 Peterborough, ON – The Venue
April
1 Pittsburgh, PA – Roxian Theatre ^ *
2 Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall ^ *
3 Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre ^ *
5 Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore ^ *
8 Victoria, BC – Capital Ballroom ^
9 Victoria, BC – Capital Ballroom ^
10 Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo ^
11 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom ^ +
15 Indio, CA – Coachella Music and Arts Festival
16 Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren ^ +
22 Indio, CA – Coachella Music and Arts Festival
24 Denver, CO – The Ogden Theatre ^ +
27 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater ^ +
28 Houston, TX – House of Blues ^ +
29 Austin, TX – Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater ^ +
May
1 Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Music Festival
3 Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel ^ +
4 Raleigh, NC – The Ritz ^ +
5 Richmond, VA – The National ^ +
6 Philadelphia, PA – Franklin Music Hall ^ +
7 Washington, DC – The Fillmore Silver Spring ^ +
9 Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom ^ +
10 Boston, MA – House of Blues ^ +
11 New York, NY – Terminal 5 ^ +
13 Montreal, QC – MTelus ^ +
14 Toronto, ON – History ^ +
15 Toronto, ON – History ^ +
July
8 Cheltenham, UK – 2000trees Festival
23 Byron Bay, Australia – Splendour in the Grass
August
24-27 Málaga, Spain – Canela Party Festival
# with Billy Talent and NOBRO
^ with support from Pinkshift
* with support from Cloud Nothings
+ with support from Sheer Mag
And see their just-announced UK and European dates:
October
12 Leeds, UK @ Leeds Beckett Students Union
13 Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz
14 London, UK @ The Roundhouse
16 Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 Galvanizers
17 Dublin, IE @ Academy 2
19 Brighton, UK @ Chalk
20 Bristol, UK @ SWX
21 Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute
23 Paris, FR @ Backstage
24 Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
25 Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
26 Köln, DE @ Bürgerhaus Stollwerck
28 Berlin, DE @ So36
29 Warsaw, PL @ Hybrydy
30 Prague, CZ @ Rock Cafe
November
1 Milan, IT @ Bloom
2 Munich, DE @ Strom
3 Hamburg, DE @ Gruenspan
5 Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset
Read this: NOBRO are the bundle of energy you need in your life
