PUP have shared a new song called ‘Matilda’ alongside details of a UK and Ireland headline tour.
The track will appear on the Toronto punk band’s fourth album ‘THE UNRAVELING OF PUPTHEBAND’, which is released on April 1 via BMG/Rise Records (pre-order from here).
READ MORE: A morbid curiosity – PUP talk the brutal honest and ‘DIY ethics’ of their fast-rising punk
Following on from previous singles ‘Robot Writes A Love Song’ and ‘Waiting’, PUP’s latest track ‘Matilda’ was inspired by frontman Stefan Babcock’s “favourite guitar” of the same name.
“She was a gift from my friend Ryan, after watching me accidentally break the only guitar I owned in the middle of a long tour,” Babcock said. “I had no money to buy a replacement, and Ryan’s act of kindness is up there on my list of ‘nicest things anyone’s ever done for me’.
“I played Matilda nonstop for 7 years at every PUP show, even when my bandmates started complaining that she sounded like shit. As the band got bigger, the pressure to sound better was building and so I bought a ‘good’ guitar and played Matilda less and less. Before I knew it I hadn’t played her in over a year.”
Babcock went on to explain that the idea to write ‘Matilda’ came from an “intense feeling of guilt and sadness and shame and nostalgia and regret, watching her rot away in a corner”.
He continued: “I love this guitar and I love Ryan and wanted to do right by them, and I felt like I’d failed them both. I convinced the band that Matilda deserved one last rip on a PUP record, and I played her during the bridge of this song. It sounds so shitty. But good shitty. Great shitty.
“For me, it was the most joyful and cathartic moment in the entire making of this record.”
The official ‘Matilda’ video, directed by Jefferson Dutton, follows the journey of the beaten-up instrument in question – you can tune in above.
PUP have also confirmed a run of UK and European headline shows, which will take place between October and November. Tickets go on general sale at 10am GMT this Friday (March 4) – purchase yours from here.
PUP’s 2022 UK and Ireland dates are as follows:
OCTOBER 2022
12 – Leeds Beckett Students Union, Leeds
13 – O2 Ritz, Manchester
14 – The Roundhouse, London
16 – SWG3 Galvanizers, Glasgow
17 – Academy 2, Dublin
19 – Chalk, Brighton
20 – SWX, Bristol
21 – O2 Institute, Birmingham
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