A few weeks ago, Toronto, Ontario’s own PUP took a daring leap of faith with their fans.  In support of the band’s upcoming album Morbid Stuff (scheduled to be released in April), PUP asked their fanbase to do the following: record their best cover of their single “Free At Last”.  PUP shared the lyrics to the track and even shared the chords.  The catch is that no one actually heard “Free At Last”, hence the spontaneous factor of this endeavor.   

PUP assumed that they would receive a small handful of daring submissions, but they never would have guessed the number would end at 253.  That’s exactly how many covers PUP received from those are took a shot at the song. 

Today, an instructional video for “Free At Last” was shared today, which also contains some of PUP fans.  You will notice the drop-ins such as Charly Bliss’ Eva Hendricks, who sings on the original track, as well as Stranger Things and Calpurnia’s Finn Wolfhard on the video. 

Here’s guitarist/lead vocalist Stefan Babcock on the song and video:

“The video for “Free At Last” started off as a very, very stupid concept.  Before the song was released, we put out the lyrics and a basic chord chart and asked people to record their own versions without hearing the original first.  It was a bit of a social experiment.  We expected to receive 15 or 20 covers.  We received 253.  A lot of them were very… interesting… but most of them were actually really good. We listened to every single one front to back (13 hours and 34 minutes), and by the end our brains were puddles of sludge and we couldn’t remember how our own version sounded.

We received hip hop versions, ska versions, grindcore, EDM, Mariachi, Ukulele, Polka, and piano ballad versions.  Incredibly enough, none of the 253 covers sounded like ours.  And even more astounding, no two of the covers sounded the same either.  The amount of creativity and love put into these things absolutely blew us away.”

Morbid Stuff will be out on April 5th via Little Dipper/Rise Records. Pre-order HERE.

This Spring, PUP will embark on a North America, UK and Europe tour in support of Morbid Stuff.

3/26/19 – Calgary, AB @ Commonwealth  **SOLD OUT**

3/27/19 – Edmonton, AB @ Starlite  **SOLD OUT**

3/29/19 – Vancouver, BC @ Wise Hall  **SOLD OUT**

4/3/19 – London, ON @ Rum Runners  **SOLD OUT**

4/9/19 – Bristol, UK @ The Fleece % ! **SOLD OUT**

4/10/19 – London, UK @ The Garage % ! **SOLD OUT**

4/11/19 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club % ! **SOLD OUT**

4/12/19 – Glasgow, UK @ Cathouse % ! **SOLD OUT**

4/14/19 – Paris, FR @ La Boule Noire !

4/15/19 – Dunkirk, FR @ Les 4Ecluses !

4/16/19 – Brussels, BE @ AB Club ! **SOLD OUT**

4/18/19 – Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia !

4/19/19 – Hamburg, DE @ Hafenklang !

4/20/19 – Cologne, DE @ MTC Club ! **SOLD OUT**

4/21/19 – Amsterdam, NE @ Upstairs @ Paradiso !

4/25/19 – Boston, MA @ Royale # ^ **SOLD OUT**

4/26/19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel # ^  **SOLD OUT**

4/29/19 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer # ^ **SOLD OUT**

4/30/19 – Pittsburgh, PA @ REX Theater $ ^ **SOLD OUT**

5/1/19 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom $ ^ **SOLD OUT**

5/3/19 – Pontiac, MI @ Crofoot Ballroom $ ^

5/4/19 – Chicago, IL @ Metro $ ^ **SOLD OUT**

5/5/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fine Line Music Cafe $ ^

5/6/19 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater $

5/8/19 – Dallas, TX @ Trees $ ^

5/9/19 – Austin, TX @ The Mohawk $ ^

5/10/19 – Houston, TX @ Rockefeller’s $ ^

5/11/19 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks $ ^

5/13/19 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West $ ^ **SOLD OUT**

5/14/19 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle $ ^

5/15/19 – Asheville, NC @ The Grey Eagle $ ^

5/17/19 – Washington, DC @ The Black Cat $ ^

5/18/19 – Boston, MA @ Royale $ ^ **SOLD OUT**

5/21/19 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom $ ^

5/22/19 – Cincinnati, OH @ Bogarts $ ^

5/23/19 – Chicago, IL @ Metro $ ^

6/7/19 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall #  **SOLD OUT**

6/8/19 – Toronto, ON @ Danforth Music Hall #  **SOLD OUT**

6/19/19 – San Diego, CA @ The Irenic + ^

6/20/19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom + ^ **SOLD OUT**

6/21/19 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom + ^ **SOLD OUT**

6/22/19 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore + ^ **SOLD OUT**

6/24/19 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom + ^ **SOLD OUT**

6/25/19 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox + ^

6/27/19 – Boise, ID @ The Olympic + ^

6/28/19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue + ^

6/29/19 – Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre + ^

7/1/19 – Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf + ^

7/2/19 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom + ^

7/3/19 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory + ^

7/21/19 – Toronto, ON @ RBC Echo Beach ~

# – with support from Diet Cig

^ – with support from Ratboys

! – with support from Milk Teeth

% – with support from Gender Roles

$ – with support from Casper Skulls

+ – with support from Beach Bunny

~ – with support from Twin Peaks & Charly Bliss