From the opening gut punch salvo of PUP‘s new single, “Paranoid”, it becomes clear that they’ve not lost an ounce of their fiery punk-pop volatility. It may have been a few years since their last record, 2022’s THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND, but that ferocious ability to peel back the layers of human corruption and disappointment has remained firmly intact. The guitars absolutely decimate your senses, laying waste to everything they touch, a supernova gone rogue. As the music howls around them, the band deliver an epitaph for a failed relationship — nothing mattered and nothing was given. It’s obsessively bleak and just might ruin your immediate plans for companionship. But it’s quintessentially PUP, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
“My favourite part of this song is the breakdown 1:45 in,” says singer-guitarist Stefan Babcock. “It’s the heaviest moment in the song, Zack and Steve are going so hard, I’m yelling about all this sad stuff that’s going on with me, and Nestor is just playing the melody from ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ on the bass. It cracks me up every time I hear it. So fucking funny. It’s a very PUP moment.“
The track comes with a video directed by long-time PUP collaborator Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux. The clip is an ode to concert merchandise and to all the people stuck behind merch tables. Schaulin-Rioux says, “What started out as a way to keep the bruising and heartbreaking lyrics to ‘Paranoid’ front and center turned in to a little love letter for rock band merchandise and the unsung heroes who run the merch table. Special thanks to co-director Clem Hoeney and all the real PUP fans who came out and went so hard for a hundred takes!“
Watch below.
Look out for more from PUP later this year. Follow the band on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
