It seems like yesterday that our president was defending bees to an audience of shrieking children, but one long presidential term later PUP is serving up a slightly different thesis on the flying insects. “Anaphylaxis” is yet another anxiety attack from the Toronto punks, this time focusing on the panic at the thought of a fatal bee sting—and the comedy of this irrational fear in retrospect.
“I got the idea for the song when I was at my partner’s cottage and her cousin got stung by a bee and his whole head started to swell up,” vocalist Stefan Babcock shared in a press statement. “His wife, although she was concerned, also thought it was pretty hilarious and started making fun of him even as they were headed to the hospital. He ended up being totally fine, but it was just funny to watch him freaking out and her just lighting him up at the same time. It reminded me of all the times I’ve started panicking for whatever reason and was convinced I was dying and the world was ending and no one would take me seriously.”
The claymation video for the track, created by Callum Scott-Dyson, is a pretty graphic depiction (well, it’s pretty tame in relation to the band’s live action videos) of the worst case scenario envisioned by the song’s narrator, pairing the song’s searing riffs and intense vocals with body horror imagery. Check it out below.
