MacEwan Hall lets students rock out to PUP’s new album Who Will Look After The Dogs? this November

By Cameron Sauder, November 27 2025—

UCalgary students can see one of Canada’s most energetic modern punk bands when PUP comes to rock at MacEwan Hall in November.

PUP (“Pathetic Use of Potential”) has been one of the country’s fastest growing Canadian punk rock bands in the past decade. Consisting of Stefan Babcock, Steve Sladkowski, Nestor Chumak and Zack Mykula, PUP has been nominated for and won numerous awards since the release of their debut album in 2013. They’ve also performed on tour and at festivals alongside such notable bands such as Alexisonfire, Sum 41, Billy Talent, Korn, The Beaches and The Dirty Nil.

The band stands out for their ability to balance upbeat and dance-worthy energy with self-deprecating and depressing lyrics. Some standouts in my own playlist are “Kids” — where Babcock croons about “navigating [his] way / through the mind-numbing reality of a godless existence, / which, at this point in [his] hollow and vapid life / has erased what little ambition [he’s] got left” — or “Free at Last,” where he reflects on being told that “just ‘cause [he’s] sad again, it doesn’t make [him] special at all.” PUP has a knack for making songs that you can blast through the car’s speakers as you race down the highway or bounce to from the comfort of your own headphones.

PUP will perform at UCalgary on Nov. 29 with Snotty Nose Rez Kids to showcase their newest album Who Will Look After The Dogs? Featuring timeless returns to form like “No Hope” and “Concrete” as well as some truly special songs in “Needed To Hear It” and “Hallways.” As always, the band balances upbeat grooves with existential lyrics and chord progressions laced with melancholy. Indeed, while “Concrete” blends both — producing a sound that elicits a high-paced electricity in your body while your face contorts, trying to hold back tears — “Hallways” tricked me into thinking it was upbeat until I listened back to it and really felt the sorrow woven into the sound. 

Of course, “Hallways” features some of the most depressing lyrics in the whole album, such as the repeated mantra that “when one door closes, it might never open, / there might be no other doors” or the lines that inspired the title of the album: “I’m losing the will to keep draggin’ on, / but I can’t die yet, ‘cause who will look after the dog?”

I can’t express how electric the energy PUP will bring to MacHall is going to be, especially after seeing them at Budweiser Stage back in 2023 and being relegated to my seat.

PUP feels like they’ve refined their melodic abilities in Who Will Look After The Dogs? The sticky riffs in “Get Dumber” and “Paranoid” signal a level of finesse that will make the mosh pit alternatively explode in fits of thrashing and emotional swaying. Whether from the high energy riffs or melancholic crooning, fans will be puppets under the spell of PUP’s unique sound.

And with these newer songs spliced with some of their greatest hits — I’m thinking “DVP,” “Morbid Stuff” and “Sleep in the Heat” — Nov. 29 is going to be an unforgettable night for those new to punk and longtime fans of the genre. Tickets are going for $36 plus service fees at the MacHall website, but space is limited, so grab yours before it’s too late.