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For emo and pop punk acolytes like Stefan Babcock, existential dread and self-flagellation don’t mark a somber ending — they mark the beginning of the healing process.

“The way I like to write songs is to experience myself at my worst, get some distance from that, and then look back on it and try to write from either a place of making fun of myself or finding some silver lining,” Babcock said during a recent Zoom interview. “When you’re deep in the abyss, you’re not going to be there forever. I write about being there when I’m on the other side, and trying to find humor and hope in the sadness.”

Finding solace in difficult life transitions is a theme explored through Babcock’s lyrics in Pup’s latest release, “Who Will Look After the Dogs?” The Toronto punk rock band, also consisting of Nestor Chumak, Zack Mykula, and Steve Sladkowski, is out on tour supporting the new album with Jeff Rosenstock and will stop at The Sound in Del Mar on Wednesday, Oct. 1 and The Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct. 2.

“It’s going to be special and chaotic,” Babcock said. “This tour is unlike any other we’ve ever done because of the nature of all the bands’ friendships, and it’s not a normal three-band bill. It will never be repeated. So if you’re a fan of Pup, Jeff or Ekko Astral, and you’re on the fence, this is the show to see.”

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(L-R) Pup guitarist Steve Sladkowski, Jeff Rosenstock, Pup vocalist Stefan Babcock, Pup drummer Zack Mykula and Pup bassist Nestor Chumak will perform at The Sound in Del Mar on Wednesday, Oct. 1, and the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct. 2. (Photo by Nestor Chumak)

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Rosenstock is featured in the album and is a long-time friend of the band. However, Babcock said Rosenstock doesn’t remember meeting him, despite having met 20 years ago when Babcock’s high school ska band opened for him. Pup and Rosenstock have maintained their relationship for nearly a decade, including playing together and supporting other acts, such as Modern Baseball. Babcock said they’ve also made a tradition of spending every New Year’s together and will hang out when they’re in each other’s hometowns.

For the band, it was a no-brainer to include him in their new album. The track, “Get Dumber,” was written in Rosenstock’s basement with his guitar and microphones, while Babcock was house-sitting for him. Rosenstock provides backing vocals, but botched a line that was supposed to say, “It’s pretty f— obnoxious,” but Rosenstock instead yelps, “Ahhhhh, lyrics…” The band, who felt it sounded better and more in the moment, decided to preserve it as it was in the final cut of the album.

Having Rosenstock around to collaborate during the recording process also served as an icebreaker for the group, who, Babcock said, can get tired of each other pretty quickly.

“We’re best friends, but we also like to make each other mental,” he said. “Usually when we’re writing a record, that’s when tensions are the highest. We’re working together creatively in the jam space every day. It doesn’t always go great for us.”

Another person who helped ensure the band wasn’t at each other’s throats during the recording process in Los Angeles was producer John Congleton, who has worked with acts such as St. Vincent and Death Cab for Cutie. Congleton advocated for trusting one’s intuition. If it felt like the first take was solid, they would move on to avoid getting hung up on perfection.

“John’s the best,” Babcock said. “He’s one of the funniest human beings I’ve ever met, an incredibly talented producer, and we were on the same page about moving quickly, and that was such a liberating kind of experience for us. He was really good about finding what was special so quickly. More than anything in this record, you can hear the spirit of the songs and the spirit of the band really clearly.”

The spirit of the album is personal in nature, with Babcock spiraling down a vulnerable, reflective analysis of his relationships with romantic partners, his bandmates and himself. Before the album came together, most of the guys were busy with their respective lives. Sladkowski got married, Chumak settled into fatherhood, and Mykula moved to a new place in Toronto, leaving Babcock, who had experienced a difficult break-up, feeling increasingly isolated.

The space, although lonesome, provided Babcock time to process his feelings and write music in a capacity outside of his comfort zone. He said that for Pup’s previous albums, it would take him several years to write material, but in the time he had to himself, he was able to churn out 30 songs relatively quickly.

“It felt great,” he said. “It also eased the burden on my relationship with the guys because a big source of tension is often that I’m not writing fast enough and they get sucked into the songs because they’re waiting for material to show up so they’re looking at stuff that’s already there and picking it apart to pieces which isn’t always the best thing to do with music.”

The result of the album’s sound is a return to the raw and rambunctious nature of Pup’s first record, which captures the energy of their live performances, featuring cathartic vocals armed with self-expression, accompanied by crashing drum cymbals and loud guitars. Pup is able to keep songs such as “Concrete” and “Falling Outta Love” simple in their chemistry and delivery on par with the essence of some of the best in punk rock.

On “Who Will Look After the Dogs?,” there is no doubt that the lyrics are personal, as evidenced by “Hallways,” which was written immediately after his breakup and was the first song he wrote for the album. There is plenty of agony in the lyrics and Babcock’s voice, but the chorus, where he sings, “Cause when one door closes, it might never open / There might be no other doors,” provides some nihilistic comic relief.

But there are also some hopeful lyrics, like in the song “Best Revenge,” where he sings, “The best revenge is living well / Didn’t even know what was right in front of me,” too. Whether it’s laughing at a situation or searching for the silver lining, Babcock said he’s grateful for the fans who get in their feels when they meet at their shows.

“One of the great joys of my life is being able to take these really dark feelings that I have and do something positive with them,” he said. “There’s something so incredible for me to write these songs, screaming the saddest thoughts that I had, and have a room full of people smiling, laughing, crowd surfing and yelling those lyrics back in my face. It’s so reassuring and validating seeing a room full of people find joy in that feeling. Maybe those things aren’t as bad, and these feelings are not as serious as I thought. I don’t know what else I can compare that feeling to, but it’s unlike anything else in my life.”