PUP DROPS NEW SINGLE AND VIDEO FOR "ANAPHYLAXIS"
Just a little over a year after PUP released their critically acclaimed 2019 record Morbid Stuff, the Toronto band dropped the news on social media of a new single to premiere on YouTube titled “Anaphylaxis”. They posted the news with what looked like a screencap from an upcoming music video. It showed an amateur claymation of a man who looked shocked and like he blew himself up. Once the clock striked 10:00am, the music video premiered on YouTube.
About 5 minutes before the premiere, over 500 people were waiting and the live chat was moving so fast with hype, “anyone from [location]?” comments, and proud Torontonians. PUP joined the chat to say they’re going to chat with the audience after the music video and they also said, “WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE’RE DOING.” Also, lots of fans were saying “cup” or “cup time”. I have no clue what that means, must be a fandom joke or something. 10am and PUP said, “Here you go you freaks.” Then, the YouTube 2 minute timer began just to let some late people in.
The song began with guitars fluttering like bees, then sounded a bit like their first album tracks when Stefan started his vocals. Rolling around to the chorus, it then sounded like their current Morbid Stuff sound. In general it was a good mix of first album and third album vibes. The song was literally about anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction to things. In this song’s case, it was bees. In the story of the song, the narrator was having a first-hand experience with being stung by a bee where he was swelling, vomiting, “freaking out like weed in my tea.” Pretty well almost dying. Then he was taken to the hospital where the antibiotics and needles made him feel like crap as well. The visuals for the video were kind of grotesque, even for just a claymation. The image of the narrator and his swelling, melting face just kind of made you feel a bit uncomfortable, and chaotic, but the song was really fun and consistent with their brand.
Soon after, PUP were answering questions in the live chat on YouTube. They said the story of this song was about their friend who got stung by a bee and brought him to the hospital where he was experiencing these awful symptoms. They also mentioned that this song was written in the time they were writing songs for Morbid Stuff. The video concept was briefly invented by the band, but their friend Callum Scott-Dyson brought it to life in about 3 weeks.
Fans are thinking the band are taking their time in quarantine to work on new music. They might be! Or, they might be like the rest of us playing on Nintendo Switch.