Freshly Pressed – PUDDY “It Has A Name”

Earlier this year, indie rock pioneers PUDDY made their triumphant return to the scene with the single “What Do You Want”.  They’ve just released the second offering from their upcoming Demagogo LP – “It Has A Name” boasts infectious riffs, fuzzy grooves, hook-filled melodies and punk sensibilities. We caught up with PUDDY to chat about the new music, the Canadian bands they’re listening to lately, and the weirdest live show they’ve ever played (which just so happens to have been right here in St. Catharines).

From The Strait:  Tell us about the new single, “It Has A Name.”

PUDDY: The music and arrangement of IHAN is a little more direct and punk rock than most of the songs on the record. The lyrics dive a bit past the surface angst which has always been our go to. They explore existential dread that sets in as we move into (*ahem*) middle age and start dealing with loss…. Feelings that come with realizing life is short and time is our most valuable resource.

From The Strait: What can fans expect from the upcoming Demagogo LP?

PUDDY: There’s 2 more singles coming. One is laid back the other is more quirky. The album will drop with the release of the last single. There’ll be 8 tracks in total and have a pretty wide range of styles. The songs on this record were plucked from a pile of over 30 demos that were cut over the course of 10 years.
We were really mindful of the range when we approached the production and put a lot of work into making things sound cohesive and like they would work well on a full listen (specifically, vinyl). Our crowd tends to prefer albums over the sporadic one-and-done single approach so we wanted to make sure the songs feel like they belong together. Also, Moogs.

From The Strait: What’s your favourite – and least favourite – parts of being a musician?

PUDDY: Favorite: Studio and shows… basically why we started playing.

Least favorite? Operating the band in a culture and industry that now demands you be more of a salesman than an artist. It was always a balancing game to some degree, even in the 90s… but the prioritization of social media content creation and influencer culture over musical craft has wrecked music and cheated listeners in a lot of ways. We have so many hours in a day. If our main concern is feeding Instagram’s insatiable algorithms with empty content instead of practicing and writing better songs, everyone loses.

From The Strait: What are some Canadian bands you’ve been listening to lately?

PUDDY: Danko Jones have always been a favorite. They dropped a new album “electric sounds” last year and it’s a banger. We played a lot of shows with them in the very early days and they were always the hardest working band out there. Whether it was a packed house or 10 people, they’d give 1000% every night.

We played a show with a cool band called Ivy Gardens from Niagara in January. Young guys, great vibe, great show. They have some new material coming out soon.

From The Strait: What was the coolest (and/or weirdest) live show you’ve ever played?

PUDDY: The Niagara Grape and Wine festival. Playing in a parade on the back of a flat-bed truck for the local radio station (97.7 HTZ FM in St. Catharines)… Drunk from wine samples at 10 in the morning. In total there were about 200,000 spectators along the route watching us trip and struggle to keep our balance as the truck lurched and jerked us around the whole route. I’m not sure the driver was properly licensed.

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Check out “It Has A Name,” the new single from PUDDY!

Follow PUDDY on Facebook & Instagram

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