The sound of Velvet Hammer/Atlantic recording group Pulse Ultra's debut album is that of rocks amped up and taken to the next level. "HEADSPACE" is a stirring mix of cerebral and aggressive hard rock, melding complex musical constructions with dramatic melodies and harrowing, introspective lyrics.
Tracks like "Build Your Cages" and "Glass Door" reveals the Montreal-based quartet's multi-faceted sonic approach, with an array of unstoppable hooks, ethereal atmospherics, and ambitious arrangements.
Best friends since childhood, Cifarelli and bassist Jeff Feldman have spent most of their lives playing music together. Their high school band gigged at local parties and the occasional Battle of the Bands, but the band's lineup was in frequent flux, leading to a temporary parting-of-the-ways in 1997. The addition of drummer Maxx Zinno brought a new sense of direction and increased focus.
"It was a very weird time," Dominic says, "but then we got with Maxx, and the first day we jammed, we wrote three songs! It was really immediate."
While Montreal is widely regarded for the diversity of its dance and electronic-based music, it is not exactly known as a hotbed of dark and mysterious rock 'n' roll. Cifarelli, Feldman, and Zinno envisioned a band that could not be imprisoned by confinement of the city's trip-hoppin' club scene.
"Raves are huge," Cifarelli says. "There's not much room for a rock band, and the ones that are here don't usually stick together."
The band rehearsed and wrote with a fervor, going so far as to cut a few demos, but something was still missing. The missing piece of the puzzle fell into place at a 1999 Halloween party attended by the band members as well as a local singer by the name of Zo Vizza.
"Some kid put our CD on," Cifarelli recalls, "and Zo starts singing along. I'm listening to this kid's voice and I totally freaked out. The next day I called him and said, 'Let's write some songs.'" "I was about to join this French band," Vizza says, "which was like my last resort. Then Dominic called and it all started up from there."
Cifarelli and Vizza clicked immediately, penning a number of gripping, acoustic-driven songs, blending the power of Dominic's prog metal influences with Zo's evocative Doors-inspired melodies.
"We just kind of shed all the crap," the guitarist says. "We thought, 'Let's make the heavy stuff heavier and the light stuff lighter.' We want to push all the boundaries, without forgetting that it's all about the song." In the summer of 2000, the guitarist made a connection that led to the band finally getting out of the garage and into the studio. A big fan of Velvet Hammer/Atlantic recording group Taproot, Cifarelli decided to visit the band's tour bus when the Michigan-based band came to Montreal for a show.
"Taproot is very special to us," Dominic says. "So when they came to Montreal, I went over to where they were playing with a six-pack of beer and I just fuckin' knocked on the bus. (Guitarist) Mike (DeWolf) came out and I said, 'I bought you some beer, man. Congratulations on your fuckin' success and shit,' and he said 'Come on in.' I just chilled out with him and the rest of the band for a couple hours and they were fuckin' totally cool." Cifarelli passed over a CD of the latest Headspace demos, and a blown-away DeWolf handed back his manager's phone number.
"I thought, 'I'm not going to call. I don't want to ruin how special the day was,'" Dominic says. "The next day, which was my birthday, the manager e-mailed me! So I called him, we started talking, and the rest is history." Taking on the new moniker of Pulse Ultra, the band inked a deal with Velvet Hammer Management and soon found them signed to Atlantic Records. In July of 2001, Pulse Ultra left the chilly climes of Canada for sunny Los Angeles in order to work with producer Neal Avron (Everclear, Seven Mary Three).
"Neal had never done anything really heavy before," Cifarelli says, "but he was totally excited about us. When we finally met him, we loved his vibe. He was totally amazing β an amazing ear, an amazing engineer, an amazing producer, just a musical genius all around."
The sessions proved to be the most wrenching emotional experience of the band members' lives. As if recording their major label debut wasn't stressful enough, Zinno was diagnosed with an extreme hernia early into the process. Worse, Vizza's father passed away one month into the recording, sending Zo into a spiral of anxiety attacks. Pulse Ultra ultimately spent six long months in Los Angeles, but unlike many bands in a similar situation, they didn't take advantage of the many opportunities the city offers to musicians.
"We never really went out," Cifarelli says. "We were like, 'Let's work hard now, and then we'll fuckin' go crazy.' So we hid out in our rehearsal spot six days a week, practicing, and having anxiety attacks."
The resulting album β dubbed "HEADSPACE" β is fraught with the raw emotions and difficult circumstances that fuelled the recording sessions. Psychologically visceral songs like "Build Your Cages" and "Finding My Place" express Zo's refusal to sacrifice his dreams, even as the pressures built up within and without.
"I'm not a great believer in heaven and hell," he explains. "I believe you should make your heaven on earth. And a lot of people aren't doing that. They're living their lives through other people's expectations, so it's a struggle to do what you want to do. Like the fact that like I was good in school, people always kept on telling me not to sacrifice something good for music. Well, I just think you should just do what you love, period."
With their extraordinary debut about to be unleashed upon an unsuspecting world, the band are excited to take their explosive live set to the fans, starting in the summer of 2002 with a prestigious slot on the annual Ozzfest. "From the lowest lows you get the highest highs," muses Vizza.
For Pulse Ultra, things are about to get even higher...
==Band Members==
* Zo Vizza (Vocals)
* Dominic Cifarelli (Guitar)
* Jeff Feldman (Bass)
* Maxx Zinno (Drums)
Build Your Cages
Pulse Ultra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Pray for freedom
Believe all your made up sages
Sucked out from your social circle
Is it worth the fifteen minutes
Sacrifice everything you know you love
The dream entices you to give yourself away
Sacrifice everything you know you love
Embellish your desired state
Do you think it satiates
Sucked out from your social circle
Is it worth the fifteen minutes
Dreams are seldom what they seem
Dreams are seldom what they seem
Sacrifice everything you know you love
The dream entices you to give yourself away
Sacrifice everything you know you love
You miss the things you hated long ago
You're so close
To nothing
Sacifice everything you know you love
The dreams entices you to give yourself away
Sacrifice everything you know you love
You miss the things you hated long ago
Dreams are seldom what they seem
Dreams are seldom what they seem
The lyrics of Pulse Ultra's song "Build Your Cages" is a commentary on the societal pressure to conform to expectations and the danger of sacrificing one's true self for the sake of superficial success. The first stanza urges individuals to build their own cages by believing in the false promises of freedom and wisdom offered by society's self-appointed prophets. The references to fifteen minutes and missing the things hated long ago suggest the fleeting nature of the rewards of conformity and the loss of one's own identity and values in the process. The second stanza highlights the emptiness of the desired state that is embellished to appease the external world, which further reinforces the message that freedom can only come through rejecting external validation and finding one's own path.
Overall, the song builds to a climax with the repeated refrain of "Sacrifice everything you know you love/The dream entices you to give yourself away/You miss the things you hated long ago," which warns against the seduction of the dream that promises a false sense of fulfillment through conformity. In the end, the song suggests that true freedom can only be achieved by rejecting societal pressure and being true to oneself.
Line by Line Meaning
Build your cages
Create barriers around yourself, limiting your own freedom.
Pray for freedom
Hope for liberation from your self-imposed confinement.
Believe all your made up sages
Trust the false prophets you have created for yourself.
Sucked out from your social circle
Influenced by those outside your usual group of acquaintances.
Is it worth the fifteen minutes
Is the short-term gain really worth the long-term sacrifice?
Sacrifice everything you know you love
Give up what you truly value for the sake of your false dreams.
The dream entices you to give yourself away
Your fanciful aspirations tempt you to relinquish your true identity.
You miss the things you hated long ago
You long for the things you used to despise, now that they are out of reach.
Embellish your desired state
Exaggerate the ideal circumstances you hope to attain.
Do you think it satiates
Will achieving your desires truly satisfy you?
Dreams are seldom what they seem
Illusions of grandeur rarely match reality.
You're so close to nothing
Despite your striving, you are achieving nothing of true worth or substance.
Lyrics Β© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: CIFARELLI, FELDMAN, VIZZA, ZINNO, Dominic Cifarelli, Jeffrey Feldman, Laurent Vizza, Massimo Zinno
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Marcos Marcolan
Build your cages, pray for freedom
Believe all your made up sages
Sucked out from your social circle
Is it worth the fifteen minutes?
Sacrifice everything you know you love
The dream entices you to give yourself away
Sacrifice everything you know you love
You miss the things you hated long ago
Embelish your desired state
Do you think it satiates?
Sucked out from your social circle
Is it worth the fifteen minutes?
Dreams are seldom what they seem...
Dreams are seldom what they seem...
Sacrifice everything you know you love
The dream entices you to give yourself away
Sacrifice everything you know you love
You miss the things you hated long ago
Dreams are seldom what they seem...
Dreams are seldom what they seem...
Vettel96
By being adult you understand the true meaning of this song.. when we were kids, we just enjoyed the game and soundtrack. βYou miss the things you hated long ago ββ¦. After 20 years I realized how deep is this .. βOrdinaryβ and this is my all time favorites
Mason 11
Best songs in the game
1. Build Your Cages
2. Ordinary
3. Going Down on It
4. One Little Victory
5. Fever for the Flava
6. The People That We Love
7. Wall of Shame
8. Keep it Coming
Chocollatia Sweets
Definitely
Build your cages and going down on it are the best songs in NFS HP2
Sotropequeno
My favourite ones π’ good times
JackThePug
one hundred percent
Apocryphox
Well, i would put Wall of Shame on 3.
De'Vante' unkwn
ordinary was number one in my opinion
AJ6spd
That autumn crossing track and the mclaren F1 plus this song equals perfection
Anthony Cooksey
Hardly had to apply the brakes on that course
Mr Lool69
To me it would be desert heat with the CLK GTR