Charting Piss for Pumpkin's Ascent in the Montreal Punk Scene
Piss for Pumpkin. Photo courtesy of @charlie.yoko
In the span of less than a year, Piss for Pumpkin’s experimental punk sound has made the band of three a staple in the Montreal music scene. Their sound —which the band describes as loud and anxious — is tailor-made to whip a crowd into an almost violent frenzy. As pandemic restrictions have eased over the past year, Piss for Pumpkin and their shows have emerged as a much-needed outlet for the moshers stuck inside for far too long.
Indeed, as the one-year anniversary of their first show approaches, the lightning-fast popularity of Piss for Pumpkin’s sonic experience is reflected in the huge variety of venues the band has played. From the Van Horne skate park to Turbo Haüs to backyard venues in British Columbia, Piss for Pumpkin has become widely loved for their ear-shattering vocals, heavy bass, and homemade approach to punk. Lead singer Annie MacLeod and bass player Isaac Seglins sat down with Also Cool to discuss their journey as musicians and the release of their first single “Citronella” on July 12th.
Kate Addison for Also Cool: Thanks so much for meeting with me. I've loved going to your shows over the past year, both in Montreal and BC. You guys have been an official band for a while now — how did you first start playing together?
Isaac Seglins for Piss for Pumpkin: All three of us came together in university. Matt [Sagar] — the band’s drum player — and I knew each other and jammed in high school, and together we wanted something different [from the music we had played before]. We met [when we were still in school] but we weren’t a band for a long time because we had nowhere to practice.
Annie MacLeod for Piss for Pumpkin: After some searching, Matt found a practice space we could use last August. [It’s] an old industrial building that is always soaking wet and disgusting, but at least we can be as loud as we like.
Also Cool: Annie, I know you were in first year at Concordia three years ago. Did you guys play together then or only start jamming a year ago?
Annie: We became friends during our first year of university [in 2019] and we jammed together once at a Concordia studio.
Isaac: It was too clean, nothing really happened. It was a weird, sterile room.
Annie: [The experience] was kind of awkward, and I was really nervous. Nothing happened after that, I guess, until we were in third year. That's when things [with the band] started happening.
Isaac: Yeah, things really started happening as soon as we got that [industrial] space [in 2021]: we wrote half of our songs the first week, and then we had a show two weeks later [on August 27 2021 under the Van Horne overpass].
AC: That's crazy quick! How did you book that first show?
A: Matt is really good at being social. He had been going to a bunch of shows, just talking to people and other bands. He met Jack from Last Waltzon who mentioned that they needed an opener. [And so] they gave us a shot.
Piss for Pumpkin in concert. Photo courtesy of @bailyaphotography
AC: Let’s talk about your band’s name, Piss for Pumpkin. Where does that come from?
A: Okay, I love this question! As a kid, I had a guinea pig named Pumpkin, but I didn't know how to spell pumpkin. [I spelled it] “pum-kin” instead. [@Pissforpumkin] was my Instagram name for a long time, because I was thinking that ‘P is for pumpkin’ [and that the name] honoured my dead guinea pig who I cherished as a child. I thought it would be kind of funny to put another “s” and make it a little vulgar. [After] we wrote a bunch of songs and decided, “Okay, we're a band, we need a name,” Matt suggested my Instagram name. [The band] put the extra ‘P’ in there [to make Piss for Pumpkin].
Pumkin the guinea pig. Photo provided by Annie MacLeod
AC: Who would you say are your musical inspirations?
A: Well, all three of us definitely have so many influences that are all very different to our sound. [The music we make] is definitely an entanglement of all of those different elements. It's hard to pinpoint specific artists. All three of us definitely have so many influences that are all very different, but our sound is primarily influenced by living in Montreal and the environment where we are [making] music.
Piss for Pumpkin’s rehearsal space. Photo provided by Annie MacLeod
AC: How would you describe your music to someone who's never heard it before?
I: I would say energetic. Scared, but not scary.
A: A lot of the lyrics are about being really anxious and living in the city.
I: Another influence for Matt and I was our time spent being in bands that we kind of hated with multiple guitarists who were very loud. [Piss for Pumpkin] was an opportunity for Matt and I to be the loud ones. As a bass player, you [normally] don't get to be upfront too much, so, for me a big inspiration for the sound is how loud can the amps go now that I'm not competing with any guitar.
AC: You’ve played several live shows in Montreal overy the past year, with a few in BC too. How has that impacted your music?
I: While we have recorded stuff coming up, I still consider the live shows to be the primary Pumpkin experience. It's interesting: you write a song in the dungeon, right? Then you practice it, and you think it's gonna be a certain way, and then you perform on stage and you realize “never mind, the song should be like this.” We find that when we’re performing the song, we’re kind of still writing it. Matt and I will shoot a look at each other and confirm with our eyes, and then the song will be rewritten in the moment.
Piss for Pumpkin in concert. Photo provided by Kate Addison
AC: With all the performances you’ve been doing, is there anything special that has stood out for you?
A: The Vancouver show [with Dastard on July 25th] is definitely fresh in my mind. We were performing [in a backyard] near this strip of restaurants, and this really drunk lady showed up. She was just so enthusiastic. She was dancing and loving it, and she brought us pizzas and put them in the pit. Everyone was grabbing pizza and dancing, too. Outdoor shows [can be] really nerve-wracking because [neighbours] complain. For example, there was another lady at the Vancouver show who was standing outside the fence and giving the organizers a hard time. That was kind of scary, but we gave her some cake and she left.
AC: Maybe the cake lady was just feeling left out.
This has been a really great discussion, thanks so much for your time. So, finally, before we end for today — what is the plan for Piss for Pumpkin going forward?
A: We're releasing our first single [on] July 12th, which we're really excited about, [and] a music video as well.
Piss for Pumpkin. Courtesy of Ali Seglins
I: Last month we went to Annie’s grandparents’ [rural] property. We set up lights, and shot so much footage and so many photos of the band. We did a big visual art project.
A: We don't have a set date for the album [yet] because it's still being mixed. But hopefully [it will be out] this summer.
AC: How are you producing it? Are you doing it yourselves or are you outsourcing it?
A: A few people are kind of working … poking away at it.
I: [The album] is very close. Friends [are making it]. It's a low-budget operation but we have some very knowledgeable friends.
Listen to their first recorded single “CITRONELLA” here, and their newest release “CONDITIONER” below!
Related Articles
