PUP discuss 11 influences on new album ‘Who Will Look After the Dogs?’

Toronto punks PUP just released their loud, raw, back-to-basics fifth album Who Will Look After the Dogs? last week on their own Little Dipper imprint and Rise Records (read our review in Notable Releases), and now singer/guitarist Stefan Babcock, drummer Zack Mykula, and guitarist Steve Sladkowski have broken down some of the biggest influences that they were each pulling from on this album. Their list includes albums by Ratboys, Fucked Up, Slow Pulp, Meat Wave, Third Eye Blind, R.E.M., Blur, Canadian alt-rock vets Thrush Hermit, and more. Also, “Dancing In the Moonlight.” Read on to see what PUP told us about each pick.

PUP will be supporting the album on a co-headlining tour with their old friend Jeff Rosenstock (who also appears on Who Will Look After the Dogs?), with support from rising DC post-punks Ekko Astral. That includes NYC shows on September 13 & 14 at Brooklyn Paramount. All dates are listed below.

Pick up the new album on splatter vinyl in the BV shop.

Who Will Look After The Dogs? by PUP

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INFLUENCES ON PUP’S WHO WILL LOOK AFTER THE DOGS?

Stefan’s picks:

Ratboys – The Window
This whole record is phenomenal, but specifically the title track is – and I get this is a wild thing to say about a small indie rock band from Chicago – one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. It’s powerful and sad and catchy and simple and beautiful. I listened to it so many times. I don’t know that it was an overt influence on our record but I bet it creeped its way into songs like “Hallways” and “Shut Up.”

Fucked Up – One Day
A really great, underrated record. This band is a touchpoint for all of us. For me personally, what really draws me in, is this ability to have great hooks and riffs but subvert them so that you’d barely realize how catchy the record really is. None of the hooks take away from the heaviness or vice versa and that’s a tough thing to do, something we’re always trying to balance in our own music.

King Harvest – “Dancing in the Moonlight”
The OG version. OK I realize this is ridiculous but this is a song I referenced non-stop in the studio whenever we talked about gang vocals and harmonies. It’s like a normal vocal in the verses then in the chorus the lead disappears, there’s nothing down the center, just a ton of people and harmonies singing together, no one person driving the bus. That’s how I wanted a lot of these choruses to sound. It’s a trick we used in a buncha spots on this record.

Slow Pulp – Yard
I love this record. I love the production. I love the songs. It’s so fuzzed out and ripping but also so catchy. This band sounds nothing like us, but when you break down the elements we’re trying to do a lot of the same things. Be heavy and grimed out and messy and also have big hooks and make records that people wanna listen to over and over.

Zack’s picks:

Meat Wave – Malign Hex
When pondering the virtuosos of efficient and brutal arrangement/orchestration, it’s hard not to go straight to Meat Wave. Weird sentence. These three guys have a way of entwining very distinct musical ideas into perfect unity of purpose. Fantastic songwriting and musicians (and people). Catchy as hell and also weird as hell. This level of mastery and synchrony was aspirational not only for this record but is so for all of our records. Big influence. Thanks Meat W!

Third Eye Blind – Third Eye Blind
Such a great record. Soaring and idiosyncratic pop-rock ideas at every step. It’s super heavy. It can be tender. It has something for everyone. It also doesn’t strain the boundaries of their particular idiom. They strive for experimentation without resorting to left-field choices. That was a bit of a trend in putting together Who Will Look After the Dogs? Trying not to over-chew the musical ideas, and vying to maintain vitality and unity between the songwriting and the arrangements.

Thrush Hermit – Clayton Park
Wouldn’t be a Canadian Rock Record without taking a cue from east coast heroes Thrush Hermit. One of our new songs, in particular, comes to mind: “Cruel.” Our first arrangements of this song were a little dispiriting. A little too “bar rock.” But once we started injecting odes to our Canadian rock forefathers, it really started to take shape. Sloan inspired the intro. Rush inspired the re-intro in 7/8. A little Kim Mitchell in the verse. Some Priestess and The Hip (it’s in our genes). But none were as specific as a pretty obvious (to us) reference at the end of the song to “From the Back of the Film” by Thrush Hermit. In truth, this record has carried us through a lot. Go listen to it now.

Steve’s picks:

R.E.M. – Green
I wrote a lot of my guitar parts on a Rickenbacker for this album. Green is where I went whenever I felt like I was making things too complicated for myself. “What would Peter Buck do?” is always a worthwhile question to ask when you have a Rickenbacker in your hands.

Laurie Anderson – Big Science
I was so amazed that “O Superman” had a moment on TikTok that I went back to this record for the first time since college. Again, the marriage of organically weird avant-garde aesthetics with pop sensibility was something that helped me focus.

Blur – The Ballad of Darren
Something about Graham Coxon’s guitar tones on this record moved me. It was unexpected – the chorus-y, kinda out of tune, gnarly sounds on songs like “St. Charles Square” were ones I tried to imitate while we were working in the jam space.

Bill Orcutt – Music for Four Guitars
The focused insistence of Bill Orcutt’s compositions on this record — simple phrases and ideas that combine to create an incredibly complex whole — helped me think about my playing as part of an ecosystem rather than heliocentrically.

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PUP — 2025 Tour Dates
05/07/25 – Birmingham, UK @ XOYO Birmingham*&
05/08/25 – Leeds, UK @ Project House*&
05/10/25 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz*&
05/11/25 – Glasgow, UK @ SWG3 (TV Studio)*&
05/12/25 – Newcastle, UK @ Newcastle University*&
05/13/25 – Bristol, UK @ Marble Factory*&
05/15/25 – Southampton, UK @ Engine Rooms*&
05/16/25 – London, UK @ O2 Forum Kentish Town*&
05/18/25 – Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg*
05/20/25 – Cologne, DE @ Club Volta*
05/21/25 – Hamburg, DE @ Logo*
05/22/25 – Berlin, DE @ Hole44*
05/23/25 – Munich, DE @ Strom*
05/25/25 – Paris, FR @ Bellevilloise*
05/27/25 – Madrid, ES @ Sala Mon
05/28/25 – Barcelona, ES @ Upload
05/29/25 – València, ES @ Loco Club
05/30/25 – San Sebastian, ES @ Dabadaba
8/5/25 – Auckland, NZ @ Tuning Fork
8/6/25 – Wellington, NZ @ San Fran
8/8/25 – Brisbane, QLD @ Princess Theatre
8/9/25 – Sydney, NSW @ Metro Theatre
8/10/25 – Melbourne, VIC @ Northcote Theatre
8/12/25 – Adelaide, SA @ Hindley St. Music Hall
8/14/25 – Perth, WA @ Magnet House
9/3/25 – Minneapolis, MN @ Palace Theatre +^
9/4/25 – Madison, WI @ The Sylvee +^
9/5/25 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed +^
9/6/25 – Detroit, MI @ Russell Industrial Center +^
9/8/25 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE +^
9/9/25 – Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live! +^
9/10/25 – Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre +^
9/12/25 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem +^
9/13/25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount +^
9/13/25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount +^
9/15/25 – Boston, MA @ Roadrunner ^
9/17/25 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore Philadelphia +^
9/19/25 – Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz +^
9/20/25 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte +^
9/22/25 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern +^
9/24/25 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall +^
9/25/25 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues Dallas +^
9/26/25 – San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger +^
9/27/25 – Austin, TX @ Radio East +^
9/30/25 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren +^
10/1/25 – San Diego, CA @ The Sound +^
10/2/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium +^
10/4/25 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater +^
10/6/25 – Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal Ballroom +^
10/7/25 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo +^
10/9/25 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Rockwell at The Complex +^
10/11/25 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom +^
11/24/25 – Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl #
11/25/25 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom #
11/28/25 – Edmonton, AB @ Midway Music Hall #
11/29/25 – Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall #
12/01/25 – Saskatoon, SK @ Coors Event Centre #
12/02/25 – Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre #
12/05/25 – Montreal, QC @ MTELUS #
12/06/25 – Ottawa, ON @ The Bronson #
12/09/25 – Waterloo, ON @ Maxwell’s Concerts & Events #
12/11/25 – London, ON @ London Music Hall #
12/12/25 – Oshawa, ON @ BOND ST Event Centre #
12/13/25 – Hamilton, ON @ Bridgeworks #

* support from Illuminati Hotties
& support from Goo
+ co-headlining with Jeff Rosenstock
^ support from Ekko Astral
# support from Snotty Nose Rez Kids