December 28, 2017
Vanessa Heins/for PhillyVoice
PUP plays on New Year's Eve at Boot & Saddle in South Philly.
In 2010, Art Garfunkel noticed that he had trouble singing in the mid-range. The iconic vocalist lost his greatest gift – his golden set of pipes.
"You
never know when something like that might occur," Garfunkel said at the time. "It
happens in music."
It happened to Frank Sinatra, who took a month-long vow of silence to rehab his vocal chords. John Mayer took a two-year performance break while battling vocal granuloma.
"What's frightening is that you don't know if you're going to get your voice back," Garfunkel said.
PUP vocalist Stefan Babcock can relate. Babcock’s doctor offered a grim prognosis after the energetic singer was examined after having vocal issues in 2015.
“'The dream is over,” is what the doctor told Stefan,” drummer Zack Mykula said while calling from his Toronto home.
It looked like Babcock’s short-lived career was finished due to his condition.
“But Stefan came back and his voice is in great shape,” Mykula said. “It worked out for us.”
So PUP, an acronym for Pathetic Use of Potential, named its second album, "The Dream Is Over." It was released in May 2016.
"We all thought that was the most appropriate name," Babcock said.
“The Dream Is Over” album cover reflects the band's playful personality – a guy reading a newspaper on a couch that’s ablaze.
“We were in a dire spot, but we came back from it," Mykula said.
"Stefan recovered, and he’s in good shape now since he takes care of his voice. He doesn’t smoke weed anymore. It’s all about preserving what we have.”
PUP is an irreverent, humorous and clever pop-punk band. “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will” and “My Life is Over and I Couldn’t Be Happier” are sonic examples of the quirky, amusing tracks crafted by the band.
If you’re in a punk band, why would you play by the rules?"
“I don’t exactly get the bands that are overtly precious and don’t have a sense of humor,” Mykula told PhillyVoice.
“What’s the point of that, especially if you’re in a punk rock band. If you’re in a punk band, why would you play by the rules? I don’t understand bands who do that."
PUP plays by its own rules. It could be playing a considerably larger venue than the Boot & Saddle Sunday as it rings in 2018.
“We thought it would be a fun thing to play a really small venue there,” Mykula said.
“We have a lot of family and friends in Philadelphia. It’s going to be jammed and we’ll have some hype with it. Sometimes, you do things for personal reasons, that’s the way we are as a band. I know a lot of bands don’t operate that way, and that’s their business."
After the tour ends, PUP, which also includes bassist Nestor Chumak and guitarist Steve Sladkowski, will start working on a new album.
“We’re just lucky that there is another project coming up for us,” Mykula said.
“It wasn’t that long ago that it appeared that we might not ever record again. So we appreciate the we’re still together touring and making music. We dodged a bullet and appreciate everything. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone, or until it’s almost gone.”
PUP appears Sunday, Dec. 31 at the Boot & Saddle, 1131 S. Broad St., Philadelphia. Kississippi will open. Tickets are $25. Show time is 9 p.m.
