UK Rock Band Puppy Announce New Album 'Pure Evil'

London rock band, PUPPY, have announced details surrounding their upcoming new album 'Pure Evil', which will be released on May 6 through Rude Records. Today the band also shares the new track "...And Watched It Glow".

The song had its world premiere last night on Radio 1 with the Rock Show and is the third single to be released from the new album, following "Angel" and "The Kiss", the latter picking up plays with Radio 1's Jack Saunders and Clara Amfo, as well as being listed by Revolver Magazine as a track of the week.

'Pure Evil' is an album created, like so much music and art the last few years, from a forced upon circumstance. Whilst obviously not influencing any of it in any way, the current pandemic has certainly created a specific path for PUPPY and this brilliant album, for good and bad. Vocalist and guitarist Jock Norton explains a bit about marrying creative drive with a global health meltdown, "We had to dig fairly deep to find the purpose in doing any of it, because the global narrative was rightly shifted to more important things. But I think to be honest that sort of introspection had filtered through into other aspects of our lives, so being able to record this album sort of gave us a bit of purpose and something to cling on to. Ultimately for us we wanted to feel engaged and productive and useful, even if it was only for ourselves and each other. Like I said, there'd be times when it would feel a bit meaningless, but getting to a place where you're comfortable with that and happy to let the work be its own reward really helped us grow as a band and as people I think."

Summing up this wonderful new album, and the struggle to create and carry on during all of *this*, Jock puts it neatly and perfectly, "To us the whole thing feels like a time capsule of this weird limbo period and I think that comes across on the album, or at least I hope it does. Postcards from the edge or whatever."

PUPPY formed in 2015 when school friends Jock Norton (vocals, guitar) and Billy Howard (drums) met bass player Will Michael while working in a London bar; the three bonded by playing the soundtrack to cult 80s comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and figuring out that Norton and Michael's voices worked nicely together on Karaoke versions of Van Halen & Metallica. Later that same year, the band released their eponymous debut EP, a joyful blend of swooning Power Pop and beer-guzzling Heavy Metal, that quickly earned comparisons to acts like The Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr and 'Weezer fronted by Papa Emiritus of Ghost' (Noisey). Early tracks "Forever" and "The Great Beyond" were picked up and used in the mammoth video game series Guitar Hero, opening up the fledgling group up to a huge new audience and satisfying their axe wielding inner-children at the same time.

A second EP quickly followed in 2016, and "Vol ii" saw the band take their first major steps into the live sphere, with UK festival appearances at Download and 2000 Trees, rounding out a healthy run of tours with acts like Creeper and CKY. In between European tours with Kvelertak and Turbowolf, the band retreated to the studio in England to begin work on their debut album. The result of a lengthy recording process with producers Tom Dalgety (Ghost, Royal Blood), Neil Kennedy (Creeper, Boston Manor) and mixer Adrien Bushby (Placebo, Foo Fighters), The Goat was released in January 2019, while the band were midway through an epic European tour with Monster Magnet. The album received rave reviews and cemented Puppy's status as the oddballs of up & coming Heavy music.

In support of the album, the band recorded a live set at BBC's iconic Maida Vale studios (their second), and racked up festival appearances everywhere from Glastonbury to Bloodstock Open Air. That year also saw PUPPY travel to the US for the first time, selling out a headline show in Brooklyn's iconic St Vitus Bar for Revolver Magazine, as well as heading to Texas for that year's SXSW festival.

Without missing a beat, the band saw out the year by releasing a surprise EP, 'iii', which drew inspiration from their favourite Steve Albini led productions of the 80's and 90's, stripping their dense sound back to its rawest components. The band then set out on a lengthy European run with Norwegian stoner-punks Bokassa to promote the record before returning home to begin writing again for their 2nd full length album.

Listen to the new album single here:

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