Saturday night at the Fat Cat, Punch Table are having a release show for their brand new album, You Animal. The show will also be the first for a brand new band, The Swellheads. Ribbon Tied and Phelyn are also on the bill.

Like the sharks on the album cover, You Animal has bite, energy, and navigates many waters, from the pounding standout jam “Just Guessing” to its catchy punk pop comfort zone with other standout numbers like “Put Your All into it,” “People Like You,” and “Polar Ice.” Here’s the band on their new album:

If I made you pick a favourite song off the album, which would you pick? Any reason why? 

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Sarah: “Just Guessing.” Jake’s synth brings it all home.

Tiffany: If I’m forced to choose I think I have to say “Japan.” Mostly because it’s a lot of fun to play.

Meg: “You Have To”

Greg: My fave track from the album, if I have to, is “You Have To.” I feel in this song a kind of timeless anthemic beauty that can really send shivers. Add to that keen words about how hard but necessary it is to break out of the inertia of brain-frying screen-life, and you’ve got something that really connects.

And if I let you pick another favourite?

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Sarah: “You Have To”

Tiffany: Definitely “Just Guessing.” So catchy.

Meghan: “Polar Ice (Nothing Left).”

Greg: Other fave track is “Just Guessing,” which with Jake’s synths and Tiff’s feedback squelches, really fires me up as well.

Is there a song on here that’s a little different for you, or that you questioned including?

Sarah: We sort of question Breakwater all the time, but it ended up being far more popular on bandcamp than we thought it would be. You never know what will hit!

Tiffany: I don’t think we ever questioned any of the songs. We only have 12 originals right now, so may as well record them all before they’re lost forever.

Which one of these songs came out the hardest, or was the longest in the crafting? Why?

Sarah: We re-wrote the structure to Breakwater, and Wake Up was originally a song I had written years ago for a folk project, that had to be completely overhauled to make it rock-ish in the slightest.

Tiffany:  I still don’t think I have a permanent solo for Japan to be honest. I always start it the same and then kind of wing it. Whether that’s laziness or creativity I will leave to you to decide.

Greg: The longest or hardest to craft, I seem to remember “Platypus” taking several takes. Funny cause it’s one of our oldest – but clicking in to that laid back pace can be hard in the studio.

Share a random fact about one of your songs on this album, or the album itself.

Sarah: Kevin Blackmore of Buddy Wasisname fame makes a couple guest appearances doing some funny sound effects here and there on the album.

Tiffany: The lyrics to “Put Your All Into It” change every time Sarah sings it. Sometimes it’s holiday themed.

Greg: Buddy Wasisname plays a mean telephone on “Telephone.”

What’s a new album you’ve been loving lately?

Sarah: Cloud Nothings’ Life Without Sound.

Tiffany:  No Culture by Mother Mother. Discovered it on my last round of night shifts and listened to it on all 4 nights.

Meghan: Mega Bog’s Happy Together

Greg: Run the Jewels’ III

And if I lit your album collection on fire, what’s one album you’d think to save first? 

Sarah: Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water

Tiffany:  Ooooh. Most of my albums are digital, can I just save my laptop?

Meghan: Probably Daniel Johnston’s Artistic Vice / 1990… It’s a double album, is that cheating?

Greg:  First album I’d save if you were a supreme asshole and caught my collection on fire is Everything in Between by No Age. Sentimental value.

There are many ways to evaluate a song. But for you, what’s one trait that makes a great song a great song? Name a song you love that fits that bill.

Sarah: I like songs that are brave in what they are; like catchy pop or unabashed booming techno, or sappy country, whatever, as long as it sounds like you meant it when you wrote it. It’s why I love Kanye. But instead of Kanye here is a song by a different artist,  that I think is perfect:

Tiffany: That’s a hard question. It’s catchy? I don’t know. Pass

Greg:  A great song is a truly great song for its ability to burrow not only into my brain but also my heart, eh b’y.

Other than music, name something else you love 

Sarah: I love waking up on your day off in a panic thinking that you have to work, and then realizing that you can sleep in.

Tiffany:  Snowboarding. And then having a beer in the lodge after.

Meghan: Nanny and Poppy

Greg: Captain Atlantis.