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 – 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 – dubbed "HEADSPACE" – 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)
Glass Door
Pulse Ultra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Leads me wanting dissonance
My fulfillment is often sporadic
Trying to hit my resonance
Nothing is yours
Nothing is mine
Nothing is mine
Nothing is yours
Nothing is yours
Don't get so
Caught up with all owning that stores
All your vibes
Inside this glass door
Depression sets in like a
neighbor unwanted
But you can't refuse cause
it's not your house
Once you stop buying
discover the haunted
void that you fill with
material malice
Nothing is yours
Nothing is mine
Nothing is mine
Nothing is yours
Nothing's is yours
Don't get so
Caught up with all owning that stores
All your vibes
Inside this glass door
Nothing's set in stone for the fearful,
nothing's set in stone for the fearful
Nothing's set your life is rented,
so burn all the shit you own
Nothing is yours
Don't get so
Caught up with all owning that stores
All your vibes
Inside this glass door
The lyrics of Pulse Ultra’s song Glass Door explore the theme of the emptiness of material possessions and the impact it has on one’s life. The song’s opening lines set the tone for the rest of the lyrics. The singer is suspended in nothing too dramatic, which means that he is facing the nothingness of life, and he wants to experience dissonance, which can be interpreted as a feeling of discomfort that comes with living in a world of emptiness. His fulfillment is also sporadic, which implies that even though he has material possessions, they do not provide him with sustained happiness, which is what he really craves.
The second verse deepens the message and describes depression as a neighbor unwanted, which suggests that the more we focus on material possessions, the more likely we are to experience depression. However, we continue to buy things to fill the void that arises from the emptiness of the material possessions we have bought. The line “All your vibes inside this glass door” is symbolic. The glass door represents the boundaries of our small world, where we hoard material possessions that we believe define us. However, in the end, all of it is just vibrations that are confined within the boundaries we set for ourselves.
The chorus “Nothing is yours, Don't get so caught up with all owning that stores, All your vibes inside this glass door,” is a powerful reminder that everything we own is meaningless and temporary. The last verse concludes that nothing is set in stone for the fearful, which highlights the fact that the only constant in our lives is change. He suggests burning all of our possessions, which is a symbolic representation of letting go of our material possessions and embracing our true selves.
Line by Line Meaning
Suspended in nothing too dramatic
Living a mundane and ordinary life
Leads me wanting dissonance
Seeking disruption and chaos
My fulfillment is often sporadic
Feeling satisfied only occasionally
Trying to hit my resonance
Struggling to find harmony in life
Nothing is yours
Ownership is an illusion
Nothing is mine
Possessions do not define me
Don't get so Caught up with all owning that stores
Don't become obsessed with acquiring material possessions
All your vibes Inside this glass door
Your emotions are trapped and confined within your life's limitations
Depression sets in like a neighbor unwanted
Depression can linger like an unwelcome house guest
But you can't refuse cause it's not your house
Depression can't be avoided since it's not within our control
Once you stop buying discover the haunted void that you fill with material malice
When we stop buying things to fill the void, we realize that void is filled with negative emotions like envy
Nothing's set in stone for the fearful
Fearful people are unsure of their path in life
Nothing's set your life is rented
Life is not permanent and can be taken away at any moment
so burn all the shit you own
Get rid of material possessions that hold you back
All your vibes Inside this glass door
Your emotions are trapped and confined within your life's limitations
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind