PUP ANNOUNCES NEW LIVE EP, SHARES FIRST TWO TRACKS

PUP ANNOUNCES NEW LIVE EP, PUP UNRAVELS LIVE IN FRONT OF EVERYONE THEY KNOW, OUT OCTOBER 12, 2022 VIA LITTLE DIPPER RECORDS / UNIVERSAL MUSIC CANADA

PRE-SAVE PUP UNRAVELS LIVE IN FRONT OF EVERYONE THEY KNOW HERE

LISTEN / SHARE LIVE VERSIONS OF “MATILDA” AND “ROBOT WRITES A LOVE SONG” HERE

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES CONTINUE THIS WEEK

ACCLAIMED NEW LP, THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND, OUT NOW

“The Toronto band Pup has long made frenetic punk-pop with neat verse-chorus-bridge structures underlying Stefan Babcock’s raucously overwrought and fully self-aware lead vocals.” - New York Times

"PUP’s fourth album, “The Unraveling of PUPTheBand,” finds the quartet completely removing any of the limits left on their music, pushing things as far as possible" - The New Yorker

“Hearts on their sleeves, the group captures the rage and frustration of human fallibility with crashing drums and infectious irreverence" - NPR Music

"The new songs are boisterous, catchy, and meta while also earnestly wading through the nuances of depression in a manner often reserved for “confessional” indie rock…an instant mood-booster." - Pitchfork

“transmuting life’s frustrations into unhinged visceral joy” - Stereogum (Album of the Week)

Photo Credit: Kelly Mason // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Toronto punk heroes PUP—comprised of Stefan Babcock, Nestor Chumak, Zack Mykula, and Steve Sladkowski— released their incredible, ambitious and aptly titled fourth album, THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND, earlier this year. The record earned universal acclaim, countless Top 10 Billboard chart positions including #1 Heatseekers, Top New Artists Albums and Alternative New Artist Albums, and a slew of sold-out shows. Today, before the band kicks off their U.S. tour next week, PUP announces a live EP.

PUP Unravels Live In Front Of Everyone They Know was recorded across multiple shows in the band’s hometown of Toronto earlier this year. The EP will be released on October 12, 2022 via Little Dipper Records / Universal Music Canada. Today the band shares its first two tracks from the EP, live versions of “Matilda” and “Robot Writes A Love Song”.

LISTEN / SHARE LIVE VERSIONS OF “MATILDA”
AND “ROBOT WRITES A LOVE SONG” HERE

“Hometown shows always kinda trip me out,” says Babcock. “On one hand, they are the most fun shows to play. Toronto has always rallied behind us and we are so lucky to feel that love. But they are also stressful because you don't want to screw up in front of everyone you know. All of our families, friends, frenemies, the guy who used to sell me weed at the Wendy's Drivethru, kids I went to elementary school with, my parents' neighbours. It's a lot. I think that sort of anxious chaotic energy is captured on these recordings. PUP live is PUP at our best and also at our worst. Raw, scrappy, and holding on for dear life.”

BUY / STREAM THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND
PURCHASE VINYL, CDS & PUPTHEBAND INC. MERCH

THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND was recorded and mixed over the course of five weeks in the summer of 2021, in GRAMMY Award-winning producer Peter Katis’ bat-filled mansion in Connecticut. Full of typically furious, ridiculous and anthemic songs, the recording process allowed PUP to push themselves further than ever before. With more time in the studio, they were able to craft their songs sonically in a way they were unable to in the past, and allowed themselves to incorporate new instruments like piano, synths, horns, and more for the first time. Though made in madness-inducing isolation (aside from Peter and the bats, of course), PUP were remotely joined on the album by Sarah from illuminati hotties, Kathryn from NOBRO, Mel from Casper Skulls, and Erik from Remo Drive. The result is not just the next PUP record, but the *most* PUP record.

“‘The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND’...reinforces the message that it’s okay to be yourself, no matter who you are." - Vulture 

"PUP’s winning recipe is 49% snark, 51% heart" - Bandcamp (Album of the Day)

"a triumphant, impassioned punk record full of massive choruses and dumb jokes." - The FADER

"it's enraged, it's anthemic, it's passionate, it's emotional" - The Needle Drop

EP Cover Photos by Vanessa Heins and Cover Design by Zack Mykula

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TRACKLIST
01 Four Chords (Live in Toronto / 2022)
02 Totally Fine (Live in Toronto / 2022)
03 Robot Writes A Love Song (Live in Toronto / 2022)
04 Matilda (Live in Toronto / 2022)
05 Relentless (Live in Toronto / 2022)
06 PUPTHEBAND Inc. Is Filing For Bankruptcy (Live in Toronto / 2022)

TOUR DATES
09/03/22 - Edmonton, AB - Punk in Drublic $
09/04/22 - Abbotsford, BC - Punk in Drublic &
09/06/22 - Grand Rapids, MI - The Intersection ‡* 
09/07/22 - Urbana, IL - The Canopy Club ‡* 
09/08/22 - Madison, WI - The Sylvee ‡* 
09/09/22 - Columbia, MO - The Blue Note ‡* 
09/10/22 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre ‡* 
09/12/22 - New Orleans, LA - The Civic Theatre ‡* 
09/13/22 - Pensacola, FL - Vinyl Music Hall ‡* 
09/14/22 - Orlando, FL - The Plaza Live ‡* 
09/16/22 - St. Petersburg, FL - Jannus Live ‡*  
09/17/22 - Jacksonville, FL - Intuition Ale Works ‡* 
09/18/22 - Birmingham, AL - Saturn ‡* 
09/19/22 - Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade ‡* 
09/21/22 - Charlottesville, VA - The Jefferson Theater ‡* 
09/22/22 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live! ‡* 
09/23/22 - New Haven, CT - Toad’s Place ‡* 
09/24/22 - Providence, RI - Fête Music Hall ‡* 
09/25/22 - South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground ‡* 
10/12/22 - Leeds, UK - Leeds Beckett Students' Union  @#
10/13/22 - Manchester, UK - O2 Ritz  @#
10/14/22 - London, UK - The Roundhouse  @#
10/16/22 - Glasgow, UK - SWG3 Galvanizers  @#
10/17/22 - Dublin, IE - Button Factory  @#
10/19/22 - Brighton, UK - Chalk  @#
10/20/22 - Bristol, UK - SWX  @#
10/21/22 - Birmingham, UK - O2 Institute  @#
10/23/22 - Paris, FR - Backstage BTM @
10/24/22 - Brussels, BE - Ancienne Belgique Box @
10/25/22 - Amsterdam, NL - Melkweg Oude Zaal  @
10/26/22 - Köln, DE - Bürgerhaus Stollwerck @
10/28/22 - Berlin, DE - SO36 @
10/29/22 - Warsaw, PL - Hybrydy. Klub @
10/30/22 - Prague, CZ - Rock Cafe @
11/01/22 - Milan, IT - Bloom @
11/02/22 - Munich, DE - Strom @
11/03/22 - Hamburg, DE - Gruenspan @
11/05/22 - Copenhagen, DK - Pumpehuset ^
11/07/22 - Barcelona, ES - Sala Bóveda %
11/08/22 - Madrid, ES - Sala Independance %
11/09/22 - Tenerife, ES - Cultural %
01/07/23 - Long Beach, CA - Long Beach Arena !

 $ with NOFX, Descendents, and Real Sickies
& with NOFX, Descendents, Modern Terror, and Rest Easy
‡ with support from Palehound 
* with support from The OBGMs
@ with support from Pom Pom Squad
# with support from NOBRO
^ with support from Poptones
% with support from Pinpilinpussies
! with Joyce Manor, Jeff Rosenstock, and Slaughterhouse

PUP ONLINE
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LIVING HOUR’S NEW LP OUT FRIDAY, SHARES VIDEO FOR “MIDDLE NAME”

WATCH / SHARE “MIDDLE NAME” HERE
BUY / STREAM “MIDDLE NAME” HERE

LIVING HOUR’S SOMEDAY IS TODAY, OUT SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 VIA NEXT DOOR RECORDS

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES BEGIN SEPTEMBER 6

PRE-ORDER SOMEDAY IS TODAY HERE

“Some of the most heartsick synth-pop since Cocteau Twins. We're talking sweeping casios, massive hooks, and lovey-dovey feelings big enough to float on.” –  VICE

“Hazy, widescreen pop with emotive smoky vocals” – Brooklyn Vegan



“Winnipeg rockers Living Hour dream big with grandiose, all-encompassing shoegaze that stretches to the ends of the earth...With gauzy guitar hooks and wide-open, drifting vocals, Living Hour wear their heart on their sleeve. It is equal parts scuzzy noise and charming dream-pop.” – Stereogum

The song slowly builds from there, as an ambient guitar and drums kick in while a hypnotic guitar jangles its way into the song. The second half gets even more into dreamy territory with intertwining guitar playing under a fantastic harmony where two voices slowly become one. It’s all truly sublime. - The Revue on “No Body” 

Photo Credit : Adam Kelly // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

On Friday, Living Hour’s new album, Someday Is Today, will be available everywhere courtesy of Next Door Records. Today, the Winnipeg band is sharing one last peak at the album with the new video for album cut, “Middle Name”, a track about “getting stuck with yourself, forever, like an assigned middle name, or DNA,” says singer Sam Sarty. “Some of it’s already built in, but mostly you’ll be walking around as you, doing dishes, meeting people, untangling what it means, being busy being busy.”

Originally a voice memo called “Janes’ Chicken Nuggets” with three fast kitchen chords and a big stream of consciousness read out loud, “Middle Name” reshaped into a song that added parts about leaving a hated birthday party, walking home and the feeling of pretzeling yourself small, creating a diet version of yourself to fit into someone else’s life, house and situation. 

“It’s about the false idea that you find clarity about yourself through making someone else happier – but truth is not there and the feeling is sharp and feels good deep down, because it’s growing pain! It’s learning!” continues Sarty. “And the connection to self only gets Bigger, Stronger, Smiling. That pesky middle name, that pesky always-togetherness with You, something to laugh about, something to rest in, something to remember and move around in like a sweater. You, always it’s you!”

“Middle Name” arrives today with a video from Director Eric Peterson and DOP Jesse de Rocquigny of Dog Days Film Co., filmed over two days around frequented and familiar spaces in Winnipeg. “I get to go for a walk, then a snack, then a sing. The song is about how one person holds an entire planet, world, ecosystem in themselves - I am everywhere I go. The busy brain and middle name follow me everywhere too. It's all a curse and a comfort!” says Sarty.

WATCH / SHARE “MIDDLE NAME” HERE
BUY / STREAM “MIDDLE NAME” HERE

MORE ABOUT SOMEDAY IS TODAY 
Based in Winnipeg, an “inland island that floats on infinite prairie ground,” Living Hour has always been a band that thrived in seclusion. Suspended in the middle of a continent, Winnipeg is a place of cycles and extremes and the contrast of its seasons means the group is constantly adapting and making the most of what lies around them. Helping to foster a thriving local community, and taking inspiration from the faces and places of their hometown, the band have always been motivated by the belief that their own music only gets more interesting when it includes other voices.

For their new album, Someday Is Today, the band followed this vein of collaboration even further, calling upon friends and peers from near and far to impart their talents on the ideas the band had been harvesting. The fruit of this labour is Someday Is Today, the band’s third full-length effort and the much-anticipated follow-up to their 2019 Softer Faces LP, acclaimed by the likes of NPR, Stereogum, Paste, Vice, Bandcamp, and more.

WATCH / SHARE “FEELINGS MEETING” FT. JAY SOM
BUY / STREAM “FEELINGS MEETING” FT. JAY SOM

Living Hour’s core remains built around founding members Gilad Carroll (Guitar/Vocals), Adam Soloway (Guitar/Vocals), and Sam Sarty (Bassist/Keyboardist/Vocalist), who’ve been writing together since 2014, and Brett Ticzon (Bass/Keys/Drums), who joined the band in 2018. On Someday Is Today, the group’s sound is collaborated with a variety of drummer friends including Jason Tait (The Weakerthans, Bahamas, Broken Social Scene). The group’s sound is fleshed out further with the help of album’s three producers: Melina Duterte (Jay Som, Bachelor, Chastity Belt), Jonathan Schenke (Parquet Courts, Snail Mail, The Drums), and Samur Khouja (Cate le Bon, Deerhunter, Regina Spektor) all of whom impart their own backgrounds on the album’s finished glow. 

Composed of eleven new songs, Someday Is Today is Living Hour at their most pensive and longing. The vulnerable lyrics are brought beautifully to life by lush and generous instrumentation that winds its way through the album. It was recorded over seven straight days during the dark depths of a Manitoba winter, with the band cocooned in the sounds they were making as the temperature hit -30 outside the door. “It’s a grind, but it’s incredibly challenging in a frustratingly beautiful kinda way,” Sarty says of their local environment. “It pushes you to keep going, to keep finding glimmers to move forward. A silver piece of wrapper sticking out a snowbank becomes your altar. The big grey sky gets me giddy.”

WATCH / SHARE “NO BODY” HERE
BUY / STREAM “NO BODY” HERE

The recording process of Someday is Today wrapped up months of disjointed, electronic correspondence between the band members, all of whom spent 2020 in greater seclusion than they were accustomed to, recording ideas into phones and computers before sharing them with each other via zoom calls. The demos were built up remotely, piece-by-piece, in great contrast to the in-person rehearsals that had been so fundamental to their previous work.

This fractured breed of creativity naturally drifted into the songs themselves. Sam Sarty’s lyrics – pulled from journals, iPhone notes, and napkin scribbles – come suffused with reflections on disassociation, human interactions with technology, and a poignant contemplation of life in liminal spaces. The album’s cover artwork ties into these themes, with a vulnerable belly button peeking out from a pair of jeans. 

PRE-ORDER SOMEDAY IS TODAY HERE

Musically, the band’s sound grows to warm and earthy new perimeters on Someday Is Today. There’s the chugging brilliance of “Feelings Meeting” a collaboration with Jay Som, which immediately redefines the band’s capabilities. A rousing encapsulation of the album’s moods, it sways woozily between Sarty’s soothing voice and heavy instrumental breaks, the quiet/loud dynamics shift the tempo unexpectedly from crushing highs to breathy lows. 

Elsewhere, “No Body” speaks directly to dissociation. Sarty’s fragile voice is backed by a slow ripple of percussion, describing a brooding, dark mood that drifts through a restaurant room by day with its faded laminate menus and faceless customers. “I’m staring at the sugar cube, it always has reminded me of you in softer hues,” Sarty sings with palpable despondency. A subtle juxtaposition, “Miss Miss Miss” showcases the band’s colourful experimental workings, the track offering a playful layering of their sound where clipped beats and splashes of synth conjure a languid groove that balances the emotional weight of the record.

The first Living Hour album to share lead vocals across different songs, Someday Is Today thrives by keeping just enough connection across its various sonic and thematic palettes for the whole thing to feel like one cohesive world. Whether it’s the album’s soft and gorgeous harmonies or the captured sound of wind tubes being swung above their heads, the songs here feel bound by something bigger than themselves; an energy that flourished in spite of it all, a human connection that grips just strongly enough even when pushed to its frayed, unreachable extremes. - Tom Johnson

WATCH / SHARE “MISS MISS MISS” HERE
BUY / STREAM “MISS MISS MISS” HERE

TOUR DATES
Tue, Sep 6 - Minneapolis @ Icehouse
Thu, Sep 8 - Toronto @ Baby G
Fri, Sep 9 - Ottawa @ Club Saw
Sat, Sep 10 - Elizabethtown @ Otis Mountain Get Down
Sun, Sep 11 - Montreal @ Casa Del Popolo
Tue, Sep 13 - Boston @ O'Briens *
Wed, Sep 14 - New York @ Trans Pecos *
Thu, Sep 15 - Philadelphia @ Ukie Club *
Fri, Sep 16 - Washington DC @ Songbyrd *
Sat, Sep 17 - Richmond @ Gallery5 *
Sun, Sep 18 - Baltimore @ Joe Squared *
Mon, Sep 19 - Cleveland @ Mahalls ^
Tue, Sep 20 - Grand Rapids @ Pyramid Scheme ^
Wed, Sep 21 - Chicago @ Sleeping Village
Thu, Sep 22 - Champaign, IL @ Pygmailion Festival
Sat, Sep 24 - Fargo @ The Aquarium
Thu, Nov 24 - Winnipeg @ West End Cultural Centre
Tue, Nov 29 - San Diego @ Public Square
Wed, Nov 30 - Long Beach @ Alex's Bar
Thu, Dec 1 - Los Angeles @ Resident
Sat, Dec 3 - San Francisco @ Bottom Of The Hill
Sun, Dec 4 - Sacramento @ Harlow's
Mon, Dec 5 - Reno @ Holland Project
Wed, Dec 7 - Portland @ Doug Fir Lounge %
Thu, Dec 8 - Victoria @ Lucky Bar
Fri, Dec 9 - Vancouver @ Red Gate %
Sat, Dec 10 - Seattle @ Vera Project %

* with Sour Widows
^ with Chastity & Crywank
% with Dear Nora

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SOMEDAY IS TODAY TRACKLIST
01 Hold Me In Your Mind
02 Lemons And Gin
03 Middle Name
04 Feelings Meeting
05 December Forever
06 Curve
07 Hump
08 Miss Miss Miss
09 Exploding Rain
10 No Body
11 Memory Express

LIVING HOUR IS
Sam Sarty (she/her)

Gil Carroll (he/him)

Adam Soloway (he/him)

Brett Ticzon (he/him)

PRAISE FOR LIVING HOUR

"Slowdive just returned, but shoegaze music was already in good hands with Living Hour." –  NPR

“Part dream-pop opus, part dust-covered Winnipeg melodrama, Living Hour’s scintillating new record is their most fully-realised body of work; a shimmering and radiant next-step that finds the band exploring whole new worlds.” – Gold Flake Paint

“Living Hour’s alterations of genre tropes are unorthodox but unassuming; the buoyant horns fit comfortably within the sound. Sarty’s voice is pretty enough for her heaviest lyrics to slip by a distracted listener…. but listen more closely, and [Softer Faces] will surprise you with its depth.” – Bandcamp Daily

LIVING HOUR ONLINE
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ELLEN FROESE ANNOUNCES NEW LP, SHARES FIRST SINGLE

ELLEN FROESE NEW ALBUM, FOR EACH FLOWER GROWING, OUT NOVEMBER 10, 2022 VIA VICTORY POOL RECORDS 

WATCH / SHARE “FOR EACH FLOWER GROWING” HERE
BUY / STREAM “FOR EACH FLOWER GROWING” HERE

PRE-ORDER FOR EACH FLOWER GROWING HERE

Photo Credit : Landon Johnson // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

Clever and slightly self-deprecating, Ellen Froese’ songs get into the places of your heart that hold both those quieter melancholic feelings and those moments of warm contentment that make you want to dance shoulder to shoulder with whoever is around. Growing up on a dairy farm in the heart of Saskatchewan, Ellen’s passion for music started at an early age, beginning with a love of listening to the classics in her dad’s truck. But it was discovering Neil Young that drove her to a love of songwriting. Hearing his music made her quit piano lessons to instead teach herself guitar. The beginning of her career was heavily influenced by classic folk and bluegrass. 

Today, she shares the title track from her upcoming LP, For Each Flower Growing, produced by Sam Corbett (The Sheepdogs). “For Each Flower Growing” is an “homage to science and the outdoors and the majesty of plants and nature,” says Froese. “When I was working in a garden patch last summer, I got really into listening to space and physics podcasts and was getting pretty astounded by the concept of there being trillions of possibilities for everything in existence. I would look down at the flowers and vegetables I was working with and think ‘wow, this is really the only exact one like this that I'll ever get to see’, and that blew my mind. I wrote the song at Manitou Beach while sitting alone on a dock while taking a little break from socialising - I imagined that each step I took further into the lake disturbed an entire universe.” 

WATCH / SHARE “FOR EACH FLOWER GROWING” HERE
BUY / STREAM “FOR EACH FLOWER GROWING” HERE

“For Each Flower Growing” Single Artwork // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES

MORE ABOUT ELLEN FROESE
Since her days with In With The Old, a band which Ellen lovingly calls her “teenage bluegrass band,” which produced two albums and toured extensively, Ellen has performed in various forms, from solo singer-songwriter, to member of a duo, to being in a full band. Her influences have expanded from traditional bluegrass music to include musicians such as Tia Blake, Gordon Lightfoot, and Buffy Sainte-Marie. Now with three solo albums and one forthcoming, Ellen’s sound has evolved (though she’s never stopped being obsessed with folk music). Her music now adds elements of rock n’ roll, classic country ballads, honky-tonk, and 1970s psychedelic pop grooves while still being grounded in the bluegrass tradition of a working-class relatability.

Despite a love of touring and van life, Saskatchewan is still home to Ellen. She can often be found at one of her favourite venues in Saskatoon, the Broadway Theatre, slinging beers for other artists’ shows. Or sometimes, she moves a little further down the street to play a honky-tonk night, featuring everyone’s favourite country covers, at Amigos Cantina. With a charismatic and charming stage presence, she is quick to bring up others onstage.

WATCH / SHARE “IN THE SUN” HERE
BUY / STREAM “IN THE SUN” HERE

In winter 2021, Ellen released “In The Sun”, the first of two singles featuring collaborations with Chris Mason (The Deep Dark Woods) and Clayton Linthicum (Kacy and Clayton). “‘In The Sun’ is about conflict and feeling helpless, unable to get your point across. It's about the feeling of not being heard, and just wanting to escape the cycle of thought - planning your next move, and thinking and thinking about what you could say to make them hear and understand you.” says Froese. The second single, also featuring Chris and Clayton, “Did You Have a Love Before”, is only getting fans more and more excited for what’s coming next.

WATCH / SHARE “DID YOU HAVE A LOVE BEFORE ME?” HERE
BUY / STREAM “DID YOU HAVE A LOVE BEFORE ME? HERE

 ELLEN FROESE ONLINE
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