In Defense of Ska Ep 64: Stefan Babcock (PUP, Stop Drop N Skank)

It would seem impossible for PUP to top their brilliant, cathartic 2019 record Morbid Stuff. But then, on April 1, they put out The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND, such a fantastic record, even Rivers Cuomo tweeted about it. In celebration of this awesome band releasing an awesome record, we brought on PUP singer Stefan Babcock on the show. But of course, we had to talk about ska. And there was a lot of ground to cover.

For one thing, Stefan used to play in the ska band Stop Drop N Skank, who was quite popular in Toronto in the 2010s. We dig into Toronto's vibrant 2010s ska scene and Stefan's journey from a Streetlight Manifesto loving ska kid to a Thursday obsessive screamo fan.

We also talk about PUP's "Free At Last" contest, which involves friend of the show, Jeremy Hunter (Skatune Network). And we discuss Stefan and the other members of PUP contributing vocals to Jeff Rosenstock's amazing SKA DREAM album. 

We cover a bit of non-ska-related PUP content, like the band's sublime gang vocals. Stefan breaks down for us how they get those vocals to sound so cool. 

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! 

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.