WORKING LIKE DOGS: PUP are defying diagnoses on the way to global notoriety. Credit: Vanessa Heins

“It’s either him or Carlos Delgado. Edwin Encarnacion has a chance if he gets resigned.”

Steve Sladkowski, guitarist for Toronto punks PUP, is on the phone answering a reader-submitted question about whether or not John Olerud is the greatest first baseman in Blue Jays history. Sladkowski, 28, is a major guitar nerd who eats ketchup-flavored potato chips and listens to podcasts about baseball stats. As his band rides through Halifax, it’s easy to tell that he could talk sports all day. The Jays have just staved off elimination in game four of the American League Championship Series, and he gets to talking about how it’s weird that the best hockey team in the NHL calls Tampa Bay home.

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“A lot is changing in Canada,” he says, citing a Wall Street Journal article about Canadians identifying less and less with hockey, “and I’m cool with that.”

In their own way, PUP (short for “Pathetic Use of Potential") have been a huge part of changes in the Great White North, too. The boys — Sladkowski, frontman Stefan Babcock, drummer Zack Mykula and bassist Nestor Chumak — are childhood friends who all quit their jobs on the same day in 2012. Their self-titled 2013 full-length breathed new life into Canadian punk, and the band played over 450 shows in in support of it before releasing a sophomore effort, The Dream is Over, this past May. The LP is addictive and witty pop-punk for a misunderstood generation. The songs’ protagonists are stoners. They’re students. They’re frustrated, and struggle with the concept of home. They’re concerned about the well-being of friends and even hate each other sometimes, too. Most of all, they’re honest.

That earnestness has earned PUP bags of accolades. This year, The Dream Is Over was nominated for Canada’s coveted Polaris Prize. (Other nominated artists included Basia Bulat, Andy Shauf and eventual winner Kaytranada.) PUP were too busy touring Europe to even attend the ceremony, but they sent their parents to get drunk and livetweet the gala in their stead. The Dream Is Over will top many year-end best-of lists, but it’s an album that almost wasn’t.

Last year, Babcock received news that there was cyst on his vocal chords, which had hemorrhaged under the pressure of PUP’s beyond-rigorous touring. “[The doctor] said ‘the dream is over,’” Babcock, told The Guardian in June. “She was like: ‘Listen, you want to be in this rock band, you want to be a singer, I get it. But it’s not going to happen any more — sorry.’”

Sladkowski says his friend is better these days. He had to do “adult shit,” see specialists, and sleep in hotels instead of on floors. The musicians have a new commitment to their physical health. It’s easier to take care of themselves now, too, since shows are getting bigger — meaning there are more fans to potentially let down. “You want there to be a standard,” Sladkowski says about performing to the best of their ability. He admits they can’t connect after the shows as frequently as they’d like to, but there are still moments and times when they can hang out. “It’s just a matter of really knowing the boundaries — sometimes Stefan just wants to rest his voice.”

PUP do stay in touch via social media, however, where they share everything — from guitar chords to opinions on tough topics like misogyny in punk rock and even Brexit — with fans. There are no politics on their records, though; the lyrics are more rooted in stories. “We just want our shows to be safe and not feel uncomfortable. To me that’s as important as making overtly political music,” Sladkowski says.

PUP does, indeed, feel like a band that can transcend the zeitgeist. They’ve been part of something of a re-invention for storied Los Angeles label SideOneDummy, which was originally built on the backs of bands like MxPx, Flogging Molly and Anti-Flag. These days it’s names like Jeff Rosenstock, Smith Street Band and Allison Weiss that carry the flag. Jamie Coletta, SideOneDummy’s director of marketing, didn’t know that PUP, who signed in 2013, would be part of a new class that’s helped kick off a new era for the label. “We were just totally enamored with their record — we heard ‘Reservoir’ once and knew we had to work with them,” Coletta, 28, told CL. “There's something about that song/that video/this band that is just so magnetic.” The feeling was mutual.

“Everyone there is a genuine fan of music, they care about the bands they work with. It isn’t corporate douchebaggery,” Sladkowski said, adding that it’s clear how SideOneDummy is trying to “build a community.” For now, the band is building one of its own. PUP’s clique is obviously bigger these days and includes at least one famous actor (Stranger Things' Fill Wolfhard was in PUP’s video for “Guilt Trip” way before the show hit big; Sladkowski says the kid is “legit,” just loves punk rock and baseball), but they haven’t lost sight of that day they celebrated unemployment by getting drunk a tiki bar. There are always constant reminders why they’re defying a diagnosis by continuing to beat up the road.

“I’ve wanted to be in bands since I picked up a guitar,” Sladkowski says before he hangs up the phone. “I’ve learned a lot about myself and what I value. It’s how I’ve met some of the best friends I’ve ever had — I guess that’s why you do it.”

PUP plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on October 29. Doors are at 7 p.m. and cover is $12. More information is available at local.cltampa.com. Listen to The Dream Is Over Below.