PUP turns tragedy into triumph on its excellent second album

The fact that Toronto’s PUP—which stands for Pointless Use of Potential—even made it to a second record is astounding. After the release of its self-titled debut, the band hit the road hard, touring almost constantly for two years and playing hundreds of shows. All that hard work was starting to pay off, but when the band went back out on the road, PUP vocalist-guitarist Stefan Babcock made a visit to a doctor’s office. His throat had been bothering him, the cause of which turned out to be more dire than initially thought: A cyst had formed in his throat and it was hemorrhaging. Babcock was told—in no uncertain terms—that his dream of being in a band and touring the world was over. If his life was a movie, it’d be the moment where the record scratches and everything stops. Instead, the musician healed and got to work on The Dream Is Over, a record that calls out that unnamed doctor right in the title.

Opening with Babcock forlornly singing atop delicate guitar lines, “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will” suggests a different direction for PUP. If its debut was all energy and scream-along choruses, the early goings of The Dream Is Over feel like the band opted to quiet down a bit following Babcock’s health scare. That is, until midway through the track, when he belts out the most emphatic scream ever put into a PUP song. Quickly, the dual guitars that typified the band’s debut kick in, with Babcock and Steve Sladkowski trading riffs back and forth. By its end, the track becomes an explosive, life-affirming ode to pressing on in the face of struggle, something PUP has become adept at capturing on record.