Puddy – Demagogo

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · Published January 30, 2025 · Updated March 3, 2025

Toronto, Canada’s Indie/ riff rocking legends Puddy, are back with a new album! It has been twenty five years since their landmark debut album, 2000’s Sweetspot was released. In 2023, the band remixed and remastered the album and scaled off a few tracks for a lean and mean vinyl repressing (review here.) It has been over seventeen years since Puddy released a new album. The band put out 2007’s Endustry album under the name of Red Elite originally. I believe this was the resulting circumstances from being screwed over from a major record label. I wrote a little blurb about the album here. Puddy also released 2003’s Drive EP. Finally, the third album Demagogo has been officially released on January 20th 2025, on Badpixel Records. The band’s lineup includes Paolo Rizzo on guitar and vocals, JV Bonhomme on guitar, Eric Cohen on drums, and Tim Reesor on bass.

“What Do You Want?” kicks off the album with an energetic rocker of ‘in your face’ intensity. The quick drum stomp explodes into the rhythm with a powerful and aggressive edge of punk fueled riff rock. Puddy are charged up right from the start and deliver a strong message of revenge and vindication. The catchy chorus states “what more do you want from me?, what more can you take from me?, Ain’t nothing to break in me, nothing left to take from me”. Puddy are on a rip roaring rampage of stellar song crafting and taking their place back in the fuzz rock scene. “It Has A Name” pounces with Eric Cohen’s pounding drum beats accompanied by Tim Reesor’s bass overdrive, guitar noises, and feedback with muted note embellishments. Paolo Rizzo’s excellent vocals aligns the song in a progression of forward momentum accompanied with backing vocal melodies too. The very catchy chorus singing snarls of “Oh my god, it has a name!” will absolutely be stuck in your head. Puddy delivers a thunderous pounding of rock in the drumming and riff articulation. They grind out the ending in epic post hardcore fashion.

The third track “Widescreen (Window)” has a swaggering rock groove which is delightfully enticing. The swinging rhythm is met with Rizzo’s signature voice in true Puddy rage. The electrifying guitar playing from JV Bonhomme and Rizzo spices up the song with illustrious sonic flare. They even incorporate some tasty keyboards and synth sounds that further enhance the song. It’s another killer track of vibrant and effervescent tones. However, when the fourth song “Under Your Tongue” begins, the band enters into another stage of songwriting genius. The ultra catchy and melodic magnificence is a beautiful and arresting track of sonic vulnerability. The laid back groove of the music is dynamic and mesmerizing. Rizzo’s vocals are graceful and elegant with every word sung with strength and precision. The old Queens Of The Stone Age vibes are met with just the perfect blend of melody and fuzz.

Demagogo’s mid point finds the band covering Plastic Bertrand’s 1977 uber-punk hit song “Ca Plane Pour Moi”. Puddy does a bang up job in their rendition of the French classic. They really punk up the new wave number into an energetic surf rocking, albeit Beach Boys-esc song. It has a very fun vibe to it and Puddy totally makes it work. The next track “Bourbon For The By-Law Officer” is a hard driving instrumental. The syncopated percussion and heavy accents are met with gritty and distorted sounds of boisterous progressive rock. Another intelligent song choice by the band which is cleverly placed on the record. “Stay In Your Lane” is a rebellious rocker of shouty vocals with a hook laden chorus. The music utilizes some elements of noise rock infused with psychedelic sounds of layered synthesizers. The heavy bombastic beats with the warm fuzzy bass tones are especially striking.

The title track “Demagogo” is probably the most adventurous sounding song on the album. Puddy fuses a fast frenzy of punk rock fury and elaborate passages of spacy rock endeavors. The airy sounds of the guitars and keyboards are transcendent waves of progression. The song dazzles back and forth between bass driven verses and the speed rocking chorus. The middle part with the psychedelic rhythms are excellent. The song plays out beautifully with each musical expression. The last “official” song on Demagogo is called “Blood In The Water”. The ballad incorporates illustrious sounds of acoustic and clean guitar that is prominently used throughout the track. Rizzo’s voice is outstanding! You can feel the emotion in his voice as he croons the words throughout the song. The stunning finale of audio aesthetics sounds heavenly. Puddy once again demonstrate another musical dimension to their sound with “Blood In The Water”.

Demagogo contains ‘officially’ nine tracks on the album, running at about thirty three minutes long. However, by purchasing the actual vinyl record of Demagogo, you get access to demos and additional bonus tracks not available anywhere else. The record has QR codes on it that will take you to an exclusive site where Puddy uploads bonus content. There are currently three tracks available on the page now including demo versions of “Under Your Tongue” and “What Do You Want?“. I love hearing how the original songs started out and how they morphed into the album versions. The third bonus song available is an excellent Fugazi cover of the song “5 Corporations”, from their 1998 release, End Hits. Puddy does a stellar job with this one and really makes the song sound like one of their own. I am really looking forward to hearing more bonuses as they become available in the future. It’s a no brainer to purchase the record because of the exclusive bonus tracks.

Overall, Puddy has really hit it out of the park with this new release! I have been waiting so long for new material, similar to my love for Sweden’s Lowrider. Puddy really put in the work and time to over deliver an exceptional masterpiece of an album. Demagogo derives all of the musical ingredients that Puddy is known for and has augmented the music exponentially through the sound quality with the production itself and the meticulous work that went into crafting these fantastic songs. Like Lowrider, Puddy makes this album so freaking good that it’s worth the long wait, with absolutely no filler tracks. I can definitely see this album being on my year end list for favorites of 2025. The best part is, I have eleven more months of listening pleasure to fully absorb these spectacular songs!