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.
