Puddy – Misses 1998-2025

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · May 6, 2025

Indie riff rockers Puddy are back with another album of sorts. Misses 1998-2025 is a collection of songs that span from the Toronto, Canada based band’s twenty seven year career. The album can only be obtained free from the band’s subscriber mailing list and is not available on any other streaming platform or digital media. Puddy’s current lineup is Paolo Rizzo on guitar and vocals, JV Bonhomme on guitar, Tim Reesor on bass, and Eric Cohen on drums. Misses 1998-2025 was released on April 6th 2025 and contains twelve tracks total, including four unreleased songs, and two song versions from each album- 2000’s Sweetspot, 2002’s Drive EP, 2007’s Endustry, and 2025’s Demagogo.

“If The Guilt Don’t Eat You, The Parasites Will” is one of my favorite Puddy songs ever. (Quick blurb about it) There is something so raging angst about this heavy and catchy masterpiece! This version was recorded back in 2003. I connect strongly with the lyrics on this one which further demonstrates my profound love and appreciation of this song. It has a grungy punk and storming rock rhythm that takes ahold of me. The hook laden vocal melodies are a brilliant example of how powerful and dynamic that Puddy is. The quartet are on top of their game with this opening track and display an unbelievable catchy and heaviness that both converge together in a colossal song. The next song is “What More Do You Want?”, from their latest Demagogo album (review here). It’s the clean version of the song (which still has swears). It’s another ripper from Puddy, which has a catchy vibe with heavy driving riff rock.

The third track is called “I Gave You My Love, You Gave Me The Clap”. It’s the classic lead off track from their debut album, Sweetspot (review here). It’s a fantastic and catchy song that has a funny name. It was recorded back in 1999 and still sounds as vibrant and fresh today. The next track is also on the Demagogo record, and was one of the original singles from that release. “It Has A Name” is a great song that displays a lot of rocking energy. This is the radio edit version which is a little bit shorter than the Demagogo version. It’s another bomb-tastic track that is so catchy and dynamic. For some reason, Puddy are a little obscure from the stoner rock universe and get lumped into the indie rock label more often. The next track, “Burn The Radio” was the opener from Endustry and it kicks ass! This compilation is called Misses 1998-2025 but to my ears it’s been all hits so far.

The sixth track, “Was It Nothing” is also from the epic Sweetspot album. This is a nice chilled out song that has a beautiful groove and flow to it. Catchy and delicious! The next track is an unreleased song and was brand new to my ears upon hearing this. “Plastic Smile” has a poppy charm to the song. This was from 2002, from the second demo that Puddy made for Sony. The song was recorded by someone that wasn’t familiar with rock music, which is why it has a polished sound. The song itself sounds great. I like the tune and it definitely sounds like Puddy wrote it. The driving bass line to this song is great and the punk rock flourishes are too. The next track is a scorcher! “It’s Funny Cause It’s Happening To You” is a classic one that was remade for Endustry, called “Sign The Line”. I especially like this version of the original song, it was a highlight of the Drive EP. The sound is very pronounced and cranks out some of the coolest riffage from this side of the north. This is one of their greatest songs, in my opinion. It sounds so complete and re-invigorated and full of zest.

The next track is another “brand new one to me” unreleased song, called “Long Way ‘Round”. It was recorded in 2005 for Sony. It starts with a quick guitar strumming and then kicks into the main rhythm. It’s a hard rocker with some heavy grunge rock components to it. Rizzo’s Kurt Cobain-est vocals gives the track a nice grittiness to it. The song is decent enough and I’m glad to finally hear it. The next one has some electronic and alternative elements mixed in it. “One Dimensional” is another unreleased track which sounds cool and was never used. “Around the time Paolo did a stint in the Jon Levine Band, Jon wrote and produced this track for PUDDY. Paolo went into the studio and added his “special sauce” all over Jon’s lovely track and the song was abandoned because we couldn’t do it justice. Sorry Jon.”

“Moving Day” is an adventurous tune that has a new age vibe going with the synth and keyboard sounds. The heavy psych beats and tones produced are pretty awesome sounding. I love how the band gave zero fucks on this song as it gets nasty and diabolical at the end. The music is funky and full sounding and has a smooth vocal flow, making the song feel more alive and appealing. It has a jazz theme going on just before it gets heavy. I actually enjoy this song quite a bit! Very creative and interesting sounding. The twelfth and final is another great song from the Drive EP called “Promises”. This song has a classic desert rock feel like a Kyuss-y vibe happening. It also has a southern rock shadow lurking within it. It’s definitely a riff rocker with an unmistakable groove and vocal melody. I consider this one of the great Puddy songs because the overall sound is fantastic and very compelling to my musical tastes.

That completes my review of Misses 1998-2025 from the Canadian rockers, Puddy. I really enjoyed the song selection for this mammoth compilation of Puddy’s greatest hits. I love everything that the band has produced and I look forward to hearing more from them in the future. I recommend that everyone listen to this band and share the love. They are the dark horse band that I believe belongs at the top of the list of heavy underground rock bands. They have been creating exceptional and engaging music since 1999. Don’t gloss over this band-because they will blow you away!