Category: Popup

I wrote previously about PopUp, just the once, and it was back in May 2014.  As I mentioned, they had been really active from about 2006-2008 when the debut album appeared, of which this was one of many highlights:-

mp3: Popup – Chinese Burn

Not afraid whatsoever to sing in a local accent, they were also a great act in the live setting.  I mentioned last time out that the band’s twitter account had been inactive since December 2012 which would indicate they have broken up.

But 2020 was a strange year for many reasons, not least this, on Facebook last April-

Whimpers is Popup’s second album. The songs were written and recorded shortly after the release of A Time and a Place in 2008, and a number of them featured heavily in Popup’s live sets around that time.

For the most part, it was recorded and mixed by Gal (Paul Gallagher) at his studios at 4th Street and then at the Glenwood Studio. A couple of tracks were recorded in Popup’s old rehearsal studio, either by themselves or by their dear friend Mark Amery-Behr. They just preferred those versions to the ones from the studio.

It was mastered by Sam Smith at Green Door studio in Glasgow.

Around 2011, Popup stopped playing shows and the album had not been released. Time passed, children were born etc.

At a friend’s wedding in 2017, the four members of Popup found themselves chatting, and the idea of putting the second album out came up. This is them just getting round to that.

The members of Popup remain friends and still muck around making music, sometimes with each other. They may release more music in the future, though not necessarily as Popup.

It’s available for just £5 from bandcamp as well as via all sorts of other download streaming services.  Maybe someone will pick it up and give it a physical release…..

The only downside is that the lockdown situation prevented any thoughts of the band coming together for a live show or two to highlight the fact there was a new release all these years later.

mp3: Popup – Sinatra

JC

 

From last fm a few years ago:-

Popup are from Glasgow. They are Adi, Damian, Michael and Nicholas. Some might say that they’ve worked up a storm – others might say that Scottish weather is too turbulent to notice.

They rehearse in a drafty old tobacco factory near the River Clyde where they sit close together to keep warm. This is how they write their songs – by sitting close together until an idea sneaks in through a crack in the wall. There are many cracks – things break – guitar strings, drumsticks, amplifiers, hearts and tempers, and so Adi, Damian, Michael and Nicholas have nowhere to hide – no option but to be honest. They can only be themselves or be Popup. And so Popup simply sound like popup – like Adi, Damian, Michael and Nicholas from Glasgow, and without a word of a lie.

They have played a few hundred shows in the UK, Europe and the USA. Some highlights include sets at T in the Park, Latitude, The Wickerman Festival, The Borderline (London), The Paradiso (Amsterdam), The Knitting Factory (New York) and at SxSW 07 & SxSW 08. They have released two singles and one album on Art/goes/pop records in the UK, and one album on Team Love Records in North America.

You can see that they were once fairly active.  A couple of really goof indie-pop singles were released back in 2006 and then the debut LP appeared in 2008.  In 2010/11 they were seemingly hard at work writing and recording a follow-up but I can’t ever recall seeing that it was ever released.    The band’s twitter account has been inactive since December 2012 which would indicate they have broken up.  Which is a bit of a pity, cos I really enjoyed them on the couple of occasions I caught them live.  Here’s the second of their singles (which as you will spot makes more than a nod to early Franz Ferdinand):-

mp3 : Popup – Chinese Burn
mp3 : Popup – Stagecoach

There’s a few clips of Popup kicking around on YouTube. They’re well worth a bit of your time.