PUPPY have revealed their latest music video, this time for current single ‘Glacial’. Directed and edited by Will Michael from the band, with all animation being created by friend and artist, Sam Bailey.
As the band explain, “This was our second collaboration with our good friend Sam Bailey, who also animated the title sequence for the ‘Arabella’ (from EP Vol II) video. Sam was really into the aesthetic of late 90’s computer game graphics and did an incredible job of animating the entire sequence we dreamed up to beautiful low poly perfection.”
“For this video we wanted to create something that felt like the end credit scene from a video game that never existed. Games of the early 3D era often had really ambitious ending sequences that served as a reward for completing the game, they usually ended with the message “Thanks for playing”, and since Glacial would be the last single to come off Pure Evil we thought it was an appropriate sentiment.”
PUPPY have today released the video for new single ‘My Offer’, which originally premiered on Flood Magazine. The single is taken off the bands upcoming album Pure Evil out 6th May via Rude Records.
The band spoke on the new song and said – “The mission statement for our new album ‘Pure Evil’ was to reach into every corner of our musical interests and put together something that felt free and fun. ‘My Offer’ is (hopefully) both of those things and a pretty rare instance of us pushing the tempo up a bit. In true Puppy fashion however, we had to throw the nastiest, sludgiest riff on the record in there halfway through just to stop things getting too stale. It’s one of the new tracks we’re most excited about playing live for sure.”
The band continues abut the video – “We made the video for the track using an iPhone face-hacking app normally used for lip sync videos on Tik Tok, turning the technology instead onto scenes & characters from our favourite paintings by Hieronymous Bosch. ‘The Last Judgement’ and ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ are two triptychs which juxtapose fantastic images of divine purity & grandeur with some of the most nightmarish & grotesque visuals ever painted; idealised visions of pastel purity & Edenic excess rub up against strange, bestial creatures which torture one-another amidst Hellish tableaus. It all feels very Heavy Metal somehow.
We figured that if anything could make these eerie creatures more surreal & unnerving, having them sing along to the latest Puppy track might be a good place to start.”
Check out the video for ‘My Offer’ below.
Pre-orders for ‘Pure Evil’ are available via the following link.
Live wise, the bands UK headline tour for May 2022, which includes the shows previously postponed from their December 2021 tour, is currently on sale. Earlier this week the band announce that Inhuman Nature and Oversize will be supporting the band on the upcoming tour. Puppy have also recently been announced on this summers 2000trees Festival (via Kerrang! as part of this years ‘7 Days Of Trees’ roll out) and will be playing at Outbreak Festival in Manchester at the end of June.
The full list of PUPPY May ‘Pure Evil’ headline dates are below. Support from Inhuman Nature (Manchester-London) Oversize (Exeter-Leeds):
MAY 2022 Sat 14th May – The Cavern, Exeter Mon 16th May – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Wales Tues 17th May – Voodoo Daddys, Norwich Weds 18th May – Tower, Hull Thurs 19th May – Firebug, Leicester Fri 20th May – Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield Sun 22nd May – Stereo, Glasgow, Scotland Mon 23rd May – The Cluny, Newcastle upon Tyne Tues 24th May – Dead Wax, Birmingham Weds 25th May – Lending Room, Leeds Thurs 26th May – The Deaf Institute, Manchester Fri 27th May – Jericho Tavern, Oxford Sat 28th May – The Joiners, Southampton Mon 30th May – The Exchange, Bristol Tues 31st May – The Garage, London
Following the singles release earlier this week, PUPPY have dropped the video for ‘Shame’.
As the band explain – “In the studio, we as a band were all really excited about the song ‘Shame’, because it kind of presented the perfect distillation of what PUPPY are all about; big, dramatic musical themes built around a more vulnerable, introspective core. It’s probably one of the more sad songs we’ve put out, but also has this powerful bass & drum groove, with duel, harmony guitars that sound a bit like Randy Rhoads era Ozzy, played by an over excited teenager in their bedroom.”
“It felt important to approach the video in a similar manner – to present grandiose imagery in a way that still felt raw & a bit sad. For our album, ‘Pure Evil’, we’ve tried to utilise an aesthetic that feeds off lo-fi fantasy imagery and cosplay subcultures; nestling ourselves & our album into a strata of geekdom that projects out into multiple alternate realities, from the lugubrious comfort of your own bedroom. ‘Shame’ kind of feels like a neat crystallisation of these ideas. We filmed it with our drummer Billy’s 8-year-old brother Sonny and both we & he are all very excited to finally put it out.”
Check out the video for ‘Shame’ below.
The band have launched pre-orders for the forthcoming ‘Pure Evil’ album. Due on May 6th, pre-orders are available via the following link.
Puppy’s May ‘Pure Evil’ headline dates are available to view below.
MAY 2022 Sat 14th May – The Cavern, Exeter Mon 16th May – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Wales Tues 17th May – Voodoo Daddys, Norwich Weds 18th May – Tower, Hull Thurs 19th May – Firebug, Leicester Fri 20th May – Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield Sun 22nd May – Stereo, Glasgow, Scotland Mon 23rd May – The Cluny, Newcastle upon Tyne Tues 24th May – Dead Wax, Birmingham Weds 25th May – Lending Room, Leeds Thurs 26th May – The Deaf Institute, Manchester Fri 27th May – Jericho Tavern, Oxford Sat 28th May – The Joiners, Southampton Mon 30th May – The Exchange, Bristol Tues 31st May – The Garage, London
Following on from last weeks announcement of their upcoming record, ‘Pure Evil’, which is set to be released on May 6th via Rude Records, PUPPY announced a full UK headline tour for May 2022, which includes the shows previously postponed from their December 2021 tour.
The band have also today revealed their latest brilliant, self-directed video for their single ‘…And Watched it Glow’, which is an exclusive with Brooklyn Vegan.
Check out the video below.
And as for the touring dates, check out where they’re playing below.
Sat 14th May – The Cavern, Exeter Mon 16th May – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Wales Tues 17th May – Voodoo Daddys, Norwich Weds 18th May – Tower, Hull Thurs 19th May – Firebug, Leicester Fri 20th May – Sidney & Matidla, Sheffield Sun 22nd May – Stereo, Glasgow, Scotland Mon 23rd May – The Cluny, Newcastle upon Tyne Tues 24th May – Dead Wax, Birmingham Weds 25th May – Lending Room, Leeds Thurs 26th May – The Deaf Institute, Manchester Fri 27th May – Jericho Tavern, Oxfiord Sat 28th May – The Joiners, Southampton Mon 30th May – The Exchange, Bristol Tues 31st May – The Garage, London
London three-piece PUPPY can today announce that their brand new, 2nd album ‘Pure Evil’ will be released on May 6th through Rude Records. Ahead of that, the band have also released a huge new single and video ‘…And Watched It Glow’, which is out today, Monday 31st January. The single had its world exclusive premier last night on Radio 1 with the Rock Show, and is the 3rd single to be taken from ‘Pure Evil’ following on from ‘Angel’ and The Kiss’, both last year (with the later picking up plays with Radio 1’s Jack Saunders and Clara Amfo, as well as being listed by Revolver Magazine as a track of the week).
Pure Evil’ is an album created, like so much music and art the last few years, from a forced upon circumstance. Whilst obviously not influencing any of it in any way, the current pandemic has certainly created a specific path for PUPPY and this brilliant album, for good and bad. Vocalist and guitarist Jock Norton explains a bit about marrying creative drive with a global health meltdown,
“We had to dig fairly deep to find the purpose in doing any of it, because the global narrative was rightly shifted to more important things. But I think to be honest that sort of introspection had filtered through into other aspects of our lives, so being able to record this album sort of gave us a bit of purpose and something to cling on to. Ultimately for us we wanted to feel engaged and productive and useful, even if it was only for ourselves and each other. Like I said, there’d be times when it would feel a bit meaningless, but getting to a place where you’re comfortable with that and happy to let the work be it’s own reward really helped us grow as a band and as people I think.”
Much like their first album “The Goat”, the title ‘Pure Evil’ was something they’d settled on way before they had got the final collection of songs together.
“I think we all liked how dumb it sounded”jokes Norton, “but then the dichotomy of the two words really resonated as well. Broadly speaking I think we’ve always tried to combine classic pop songwriting with a love of heavier music, and on this album I think we take that a step further with some of our loudest moments combined with some of our sweetest. It feels like a nice way to say something about the band and our ethos while ultimately still being able to call it something stupid.”
The writing sessions for the album began in early 2020, with some basic plans in place for a timeline of when and how they were going do it, and who was gonna record it. Then obviously Covid hit and that changed everything for the band. “Apart from the immediate questions of how we would even get in a room together, i think there were broader concerns about when and if we would ever be able to function again as we had up to that point”, explains Norton. The merry-go-round of being a working band had completely stopped for PUPPY, like so many other bands, musicians, artists, promoters…the entire music industry in general. Though for the 3 friends, they pushed themselves through to ‘the other side’, and tried to gain back focus and creative inspiration.
“After a bit of soul searching and feeling like we were at the mercy of what was going on around us we decided we wanted to try and wrestle back a bit of control to secure our own future as three friends who enjoy getting together and making music, regardless of what that meant in the bigger picture. In light of that, we decided to invest some time and money converting our rehearsal space in East London into a working studio and record the album there. We roped in our friend Rory Attwell to help us with some of the trickier bits (recording drums) and then just sort of figured out how to do the rest ourselves.” This did mean that the whole process became a lot longer for PUPPY, but it was something that became actual, genuine ‘fun’. “ It was a big learning curve, but feeling like there were much more important things going on in the world kind of took the pressure off a bit in a good way. We just focused on having fun and enjoying ourselves, which when you strip everything away is really the place you want to be I guess.”
Stand out tracks like the huge current single ‘…And Watched It Glow’, with is gargantuan wall of noise guitars, and ‘Shame’, which is built around a crazy, blown out bass and drums groove with lead guitars that sound like Randy Roads soundtracking Blade Runner (“like super shred guitar hero stuff but with this real melancholic atmosphere around it”). Another key album track is ‘Glacial’, which was added in at the 11th hour WAY past any ‘handing in music deadlines’ had passed.
“We had the album done and felt like it was missing one more banger, so then we turned this track around in like a week from writing to recording in order to ‘meet’ our deadline and it’s possibly the best song on there. Often we can toy around with songs and arrangement for ages, but that one came straight out the box in pretty much it’s finished form. It’s so short and tightly constructed but I think it sums up our band really well.”
Summing up this wonderful new album, and the struggle to create and carry on during all of *this*, Jock puts it neatly and perfectly,
“To us the whole thing feels like a time capsule of this weird limbo period and I think that comes across on the album, or at least I hope it does. Postcards from the edge or whatever.”
Check out the track ‘…And Watched It Glow’ via your preferred streaming service.
Pure Evil is set to be released on May 6th via Rude Records, Pre-orders will launch soon.
PUPPY have returned with a brand new single and video ‘The Kiss’, released through Rude Records.
The release follows a world exclusive first play last night with the Radio 1 Rock Show, presented by Daniel P Carter (listen back to that whole show – HERE).
Written and produced by the band, singer/guitarist Jock Norton explains a little bit about the song – “The Kiss” actually and came out of songwriting sessions for our first album The Goat. For whatever reason it was left by the wayside, but when we started recording new material across the last year or so we decided to try laying down a proper version of it just to see how it would sound (and because we were too lazy to come up with any new songs). What we ended up with sounded way better than the acoustic version Billy had on his phone from 4 years ago, so at a vote of 2 to 1 (sorry Bill) we decided to release the new one. We hope you enjoy it.”Explaining a bit about the wonderful video for ‘The Kiss’, drummer Billy Howard says: – “We teamed up with Jacek Smarz, a mysterious and enigmatic long term friend of the band, who created the batshit animations that serve as a pretty good visual representation of where our heads were at when we were recording the music. It’s the first time we’ve shared creative duties on a video with someone not in the band, and we are shocked and horrified to find the amazing difference it makes when you hand over control to someone actually knows what they’re doing.”
Check out the video for ‘The Kiss’ below.
Puppy are set to tour the UK next month with Inhuman Nature and Gender Roles.
The track marks their first under a new label deal with Rude Records, and arrives with news of an upcoming live show dubbed ‘A Night Of Pure Evil’ at The Garage in London, on 17th December.
“During 2020 we focused on trying to write the best album the world had ever heard,” the trio comment. “Our goal for this first single was to combine the power of November Rain, Purple Rain and Can you Stand the Rain times 1000. I think you’ll all agree that we massively succeeded.”
Check out ‘Angel’ below, and keep an eye out for more from the band soon.
The music video roundup is back! That’s right now things are looking bleak so I wanted to re-instate the roundup so everyone has something new to be watching. In addition to this, there’s a new weekly tracks post coming because it will not stop the music!
First things first, to get up started we have Puppy. ‘Powder Blue’ is the last one on their last EP, ‘iii’ On the track they’ve said: “We called it that because it was our third EP, and because there are three of us in the band. For whatever reason, triptychs, triplets, three-pieces & trilogies felt quite important to us at that point.
Up in the second spot this week is the Manchurian Pop-Rock up and comers who have just about established themselves with this reworked mashup of two of their tracks in a toned-down version for ‘Wide Awake (In Awful Ever After) for which both tracks are cut from 2019’s ‘Are You Feeling Alive’ EP. In addition to the new cut of the track, we have some behind the scenes footage of the band as well as some live footage for everyone to enjoy.
Now, who’s up for some gymnastics and a pulsating slow-burning performance? Well, that’s just what Frank Iero And The Future Violents have in store for us as Frank himself explains:
“It was apparent to me early on while writing Barriers that ‘Medicine Square Garden’ was its most important track. It was the cornerstone upon which the rest of the record and band was formed. If we lost the battle on that song, the rest didn’t stand a chance. ‘Medicine Square Garden’ pushed the most boundaries, scratched the most itches, and terrified me far beyond any other song I had written. So when we crossed off every box in Chicago at Electrical Audio and listened back with smiles knowing we had accomplished our goals, a new objective soon emerged: Get the label to see our favorite song as a single, and let us make the video of my dreams.”
“‘Medicine Square Garden’ is not your typical single. It’s a five and a half minute attempt at answering the question, ‘What if Prince wrote a Sleep song?’ Oh and if that’s not batshit enough for you, I already had the video in my head. So armed with crudely drawn set designs and a typed-up description of a witchy calisthenics workout meets a Robert Palmer alien massacre, I submitted my pitch to the label. This was my vision from the beginning and no one told me I was crazy. What a world.”
Next up, we have a little talk of Nothing, Nowhere. It’s a track that’s full of harsh beats and vocals which are somehow a little harsher. You can watch ‘Death’ below.
Now, since Suitor released their debut in October of last year the band have been busy. They’ve been touring like crazy and as well as working on their upcoming second EP. The video for that second release is now complete in the form of ‘Deep Sleep’.
On the track singer Casey Smith has said:
“‘Deep Sleep’ as a video conveys the battle of addiction and temptation; literally in the form of alcoholism, or something else entirely based on perspective. Drug abuse, codependency, self medication, whatever it takes to find respite in a depressive or anxious reality. That solution or “fix” is portrayed in the siren character. For the wandering male lead, it is the only option, the only path that leads to a salvation without despair, in her embrace. Even if it means the end for him, he cant resist the cure, allowing her to pull him beneath the surface, finally at peace. He wakes, stunned to realize that it was only a dream; a temporary escape. Where does he go from here?”
For another up and coming band we have Static Dress. They’ve been on the up and there’s no signs of them stopping. Now they have a new track in the form os ‘Safeword’ which has an accompanying video where they return to the green and white room from their debut single, ‘Clean’.
Moving on in the list Dance Gavin Dance have launched a new video, with the help of their fans. In their ‘Three Wishes’ video, the band put a call out for people to send in footage of themselves cleaning their houses, brushing their teeth etc (A little strange right?)
But ‘Three Wishes’ is off their upcoming record ‘Afterburner’, which is due to be released April 24th via Rise Records.
Now we have Eat Away My Heart. It’s actually a track title on this one. I’m sure everyoen’s thinking the same, is it? It’s actually a fact! This track comes from the brilliant Wallflower whom have their debut record, ‘Teach Yourself To Swim’ on its way and now there’s a video to go with it!
On the track though, vocalist/guitarist Vini Moreira-Yeoell has said:
“It’s a song about giving away all the best parts of yourself to someone in the hope that the person in question will like you a little more, which never works by the way.”
Check out ‘Eat Away At My Heart’ below.
Now we’re nearing the endgame for this weeks list where A Day To Remember’s time has finally come on the list. Everyone’s eagerly awaiting the release of their seventh record, ‘You’re Welcome’, the band have decided to share just what’s coming with their latest cut off the record, ‘Mindreader’.
This follows on from ‘Degenerates’ and ‘REsentment’ where the track has an accompanying animated video that tells the story of a man in a mental battle with his girlfriend who’s portrayed as a mystical physic woman.
On the track, frontman Jeremy McKinnon has said:
“We’ve had this video done for some time now, and seeing as how our album isn’t out yet and the state of the world is keeping us off the road, we wanted to get some new material out there for our fans as soon as possible.
This song was one of my personal favorites off the new album from the day it was written. I wrote it with the incredibly talented Mike Green. Fun fact, it was the first song I’ve ever sent the guys in the band that was unanimously loved. This song was written to be a lighthearted take on people in relationships expecting their partners to read their minds.”
Lastly, on the list for this weeks Roundup, we have Yours Truly. They have released ‘Composure’ which is there first taste of new music from the band since the release of their EP ‘Afterglow’ in 2019.
On the track Vocalist Mikaila Delgado has explained:
And that’s it for this week’s Music Video Roundup list. Be sure to check back next week for another look at what’s being released in the music world.
It’s that time of the week again! It’s time for another music video roundup! Those unfamiliar to the series of posts which come out every Friday, I look for ten of my favourite recently released music videos for the audience’s viewing pleasure and compose a list for everyone to enjoy! Let’s get straight into things with Puppy. Their newest record just dropped today and this track for ‘The Goat’ was their last before fans got to listen to the entire thing.
Cane Hill have just released a brand new EP, which is something definitely more toned down than their usual hard-hitting material but, it’s something which is just as amazing. With that, the four-piece from New Orleans has released a video for their opening track, “86d – No Escort”
Moving across to Oakland, those Punks in SWMRS are starting their 2019 by giving fans a sneak peek into their upcoming Third record, ‘Berkeley’s On Fire’ with their latest video, ‘Trashbag Baby’.
Now, something a little more alternative as we go for Follower whom have just released their new video in the form of ‘Voices’, which comes from the bands upcoming 6-track EP, ‘Against The Ropes’.
Ahead of this band’s upcoming record, ‘The Language Of Injury’, newcomers Ithaca have a new video for ‘Impulse Crush’.
I do enjoy having all sorts of videos in these lists, and I’m going to switch it up for this next video from One Ok Rock. The band were on a tour of Japan in October last year and the one thing this band does magnificently is providing the atmosphere of their shows and you can experience it for yourself in their live video for their latest single, ‘Stand Out Fit In’ below.
Moving on, next we have Tiny Moving Parts. The Emo/Post Hardcore trio has recently released a new limited edition two-song 7″ and now, the double single record has a video to ‘For The Sake Of Brevity’
Now for an artist who has been teasing for a while now! This is, of course, Yungblud and his new track for ‘Loner’. His website http://www.idontwannabealoner.com/ had been teasing everyone all week until the release of the track.
For With Confidence, they went all supernatural for their latest single off their 2018 record, ‘Love & Loathing’. For the video of ‘Icarus’, the video shows a typical modern love story, ending in a boy turning into stone.
And for the last video, it comes from As It Is. In the last week, the band confirmed that long-time touring member Ronnie Ish would be coming aboard as a permanent member of the band and for the second announcement, they dropped a brand new live video for ‘The Fire, The Dark’ which was filmed at their biggest headlining show to date at London’s Kentish Town Forum.
And that’s it for another week of the music video roundup! Don’t forget to check back next week for another ten of the best recent music videos.
Almost Anything Music 