Interview with Puddy

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

I had an amazing 7th/8th grade music teacher named Mr. Newman. His music history class was nuts.  He would spend most of the class time blasting records from his MASSIVE collection.  It was the first time I heard D.R.I., Surf Punks, Skinny Puppy and TONS of others… I was hooked.  I was lucky enough to be assigned to drums in his band.  Between those 2 classes I was locked onto a path.  By highschool I was playing drums in a few rock bands.  A few years later I picked up guitar and started writing songs… That turned into Puddy.

Music has never paid the bills for us… Especially these days.  I’m an animator and post production artist and have a little shop called Badpixel Inc.  I started the shop in 2013 after working for a bunch of advertising agencies for about 10 years. A lot of the skills I’ve picked up in my job translate well to the music thing… It’s allowed us to crank out really polished content totally DIY.   

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

I love build projects. I’ve built a bunch of classic arcade cabinets and a couple of years ago I built custom guitar cabs for my live rig… and documented the build on our YouTube channel at work.  When I’m not playing or recording music, I’m usually neck deep in some sort of project.  The odd time when I’m between projects and there’s nothing music-related going on, I’m usually deep-diving tutorials.  

How long has your band been around?

We formed in 1993 and were active until around 2012…  From 2007-2012 we played under various other names due to some legal stickiness but the material was identical.  In 2019 we decided to pick it up again and start working on a new record which we’re finally promoting now.

Where are you based out of and how did that influence your music?

The band was originally formed in Timmins Ontario.  We relocated to Toronto in 2000.  Our sound was pretty well established by the time we dropped into the Toronto scene. There was a definite aesthetic and sound happening in the indie rock scene around that time so we stuck out like sore thumbs. We didn’t know it at the time but being isolated from the cool kids while we were cutting our teeth ended up setting us apart from the pack and working to our advantage.     

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?

Someone brought this stuff called “Ear putty” into rehearsal one day.  It was supposed to work as earplugs. It didn’t…  It stuck in our ears like glue and we needed tweezers to take it out.  I’m pretty sure there’s still some of that crap deep in my ear canals to this day.  Gilles, our first bass player, decided we should name the band after it.  We had a high school talent show or something around the corner and it stuck.  The name evolved a bit from there.

We considered changing it to something ‘cooler’ many times over the years but the longer we went the more it seemed like too much work to bother. Stoners.

Tell me about your most memorable shows.

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. Catherines)... Drunk from wine samples at 10 in the morning.  In total there were about 200,000 spectators 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.

What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

The Bovine Sex Club.  it’s always been home to us. We’ve easily played there 20 - 30 times over the years.  We played a ton of other venues big and small including CBGBs in 2001… but we never had consistently good shows anywhere like we do at the Bovine.  

I don’t really have a wishlist of venues.  As long as the sound is half decent and there’s a crowd, we’re happy.

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

Mehh. we can file this one in with the venues - don’t care that much about fantasy lineups.  We did a bunch of shows with Danko back in the day.  They were really nice to us and it was always fun to watch them.  As long as the other bands on the bill aren’t jerks, we’re usually happy.

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

Make music for YOU! At one point we were signed to a sizeable label and learned that lesson the hard way.  Whether it's getting caught up in the fog of trying to expand your reach, trying too hard to fit in or it's having industry types inserting themselves and their ideas on what you need to do to commercialize into; The result is almost always the same. Keep it authentic, keep it honest, keep it yours.

If you could go back in time and give yourselves advice, what would it be?

BE PATIENT, KEEP SHOPPING…  DON’T SIGN THAT FUCKING RECORD DEAL!

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

There’s a couple on the new album that are about watching my father’s health decline and ultimately watching him die.  It’s been a few years but it’s still really fresh and still feels surreal.

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

To play?  Probably ‘Sign the Line’ and ‘Did You Drop Something’.  High energy songs with good flow and a lot of fun instrumental breaks.  They always seem to wake the set up a bit.

Most requested… “I Gave You My Love, You Gave Me The Clap” and “Jaded”.   The former was the “single” from our album “Sweetspot”.  The title has nothing to do with the lyrics, but we thought it would be hilarious to have DJs recite the song title on the radio. The song actually got some decent airplay but the stations took the liberty of renaming it  “I Gave You My Love…” We were pissed!!!

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

I usually demo stuff in my studio, then send it to everyone.  If it gets a pass, we track drums in Montreal at Le Stuzzio, then start to build up the track from there.

We overwrite the demos part by part as members are able to make it into the studio in Niagara.  A lot of times we catch stuff on the 2nd pass that we didn't hear on the demo and parts get re-written and re-recorded…..  sometimes 2 or 3 times before we're happy with it.  

Vocals always get a few passes over months.  Letting recordings sit and giving them some distance has a way of revealing skunky performances that you didn't catch when they’re first recorded.

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

Nothing in particular.  Whatever I'm feeling in the moment.  Mostly stuff that pisses me off but I do my best to keep things ambiguous and leave them open to interpretation.  It's pretty fun hearing what folks think songs are about.  It's never what I was thinking but they're never wrong either.

Do you ever have disagreements in your band, and how do you get past them?

Nah.  Not really.  We’ve all known each other for decades.  We have no delusions and we feel lucky to be able to be doing this.  

We all live in different cities, separated by huge distances and aren't holed up in a rehearsal space 3 times a week for hours so I'm sure that helps.

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

No big plans.  We take things as they come.  We're currently in the process of releasing and promoting the new record called “Demagogo”. The first single and video “What do You Want” went live at the beginning of January.  We've got 2 more singles that are coming out in the next couple of months as the videos get done… then the album drops in the spring.  After that we’ll probably start working on another record right away.

How can your fans best keep up to date with you, any socials you want people to check out?

Best way to keep on top of it would be to sign up to our mailing list at puddy.tv. we send out a monthly newsletter if and when there's stuff going on.  

We're pretty active on Instagram and Facebook but these days less and less followers see posts without handing over what scraps you make to Meta.  so yeah, the website is the best place to find the latest - Just like the good ‘ol days.