Category: Emo/Screamo

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Central Massachusetts-based emo outfit peregrine can trace their origins to the breakup of several local bands back in 2015. The band (and sort of collective of local musicians) quickly released their debut EP before settling down to write and record their full-length debut, 2019’s as one would exist within the crescendo, an effort that saw the band pushing their sound in different directions.

as one would exist within the crescendo received some attention in local and regional circles. Encouraged by the response, the Massachusetts-based act began writing material for the album’s follow-up. Much like everyone else across the globe, the pandemic threw a monkey wrench into the band’s plans.

The stress of the moment caused the band to split off into different factions: The remaining members Nate (vocals), Tom (guitar, bass, synth) and Bryan (drums) began digging into the material that Nate and Tom had been sharing between each other during pandemic-mandated quarantines. Interestingly, the remote writing sessions found the members of peregrine exploring new sonic textures that were darker, denser and much more ambitious.

When the band finished writing the album’s material, they went to Pawtucket‘s Machines with Magnets and several other smaller studios across New England for the recording sessions for their forthcoming sophomore album the awful things we’ve done. Recorded over a four month session, the album thematically is both a reflection of the current state of humanity — and a warning for where we may end up. The album’s material explores the efforts to maintain interpersonal relationships with others during a near apocalyptic sociopolitical state, fueled by uncertainty, unrest and despair.

the awful things we’ve done‘s around and latest single “a polite merlot” is an explosive ripper centered around an expansive song structure featuring dense layers of chugging power chords, scorching solos, thunderous drumming, a propulsive bass line and mosh pit friendly hooks paired with Nate’s plaintive yelping. While sonically recalling Thursday‘s “Understanding In A Car Crash,” the song as the band explains is a reflection of the conflict between what is really important to some versus others within a traditional American lifestyle.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Toronto’s PUP Releases a Hilarious Claymation Video for Breakneck Anthem “Anaphylaxis”

Formed back in 2015, Toronto-based punk act PUP — Stefan Babcock, Nestor Chumak, Zack Mykula and Steve Sladowski — quickly became punk scene darlings with their first two albums, which received critical applause from The New York Times, Pitchfork, NPR, Rolling Stone and a long list of others. 

The band’s third and latest album, last year’s Morbid Stuff found the band maturing and further honing the approach and sound that won them international attention — by doubling down on the gang’s-all-here vocals, big power chord-driven choruses and lyrics about death. And as a result, the album’s material teeters between gleeful chaos and bleak oblivion while delving into Stefan Babcock’s struggles with depression. In some way, admitting his depression allowed him to take some control — and to laugh in its face.    The album was released to critical applause, and as a result of a rapidly growing profile, the band wound up making their late-night television debut on Late Night with Seth Meyers. They also supported the album with a largely sold-out world tour that found them on the road for most of the year. 

The band’s latest single, the breakneck  “Anaphylaxis” is the first batch of new material from the band this year and the single which features shouted, “the gang’s-all-in” vocals, rousing hooks, enormous power chords and thunderous drumming is the sort of song that’s simultaneously a mosh-pit friendly ripper and the “raise-a-beer-with-your-buddies-and-shout-along” anthem, centered around lyrics that balance sincerity with heavily winking irony. Everything is falling apart all around us — and holy shit, ain’t it kind of funny that it is?

“I got the idea for the song when I was at my partner’s cottage and her cousin got stung by a bee and his whole head started to swell up,” says singer Stefan Babcock. “His wife, although she was concerned, also thought it was pretty hilarious and started making fun of him even as they were headed to the hospital. He ended up being totally fine, but it was just funny to watch him freaking out and her just lighting him up at the same time. It reminded me of all the times I’ve started panicking for whatever reason and was convinced I was dying and the world was ending and no one would take me seriously. In retrospect, I always find those overreactions pretty funny. So we wrote a goofy song about being a hypochondriac and tried to make our guitars sound like bees at the beginning of it.”

Directed by Callum Scott-Dyson, the recently released claymation video for “Anaphylaxis” features a hero — or perhaps an anti-hero — whose paranoia has him envision a world in which the bees are out to get revenge. Of course, the bees do get him. And the subsequent allergic reaction causes him to freak out and imagine the very worse.