pulses. on their upcoming tour, diverse influences, and more

I spoke with Virginia post-hardcore band pulses. about a bunch of things, including their upcoming tour with Nightlife, Cheem, and With Sails Ahead, and how they balance their eclectic sound. 

First, could we get some introductions? And for an ice breaker, what’s one “classic” lambgoat comment you’d leave below this article?

Caleb: I’m Caleb, I do vocals and guitar. Probably hit us with something like calling us wannabe black metal or “what is this kidz bop shit” (literally saw that said about us the other day haha)

Matt: I’m Matt, I play guitar & do vocals. And oh man, probably just the classic “never heard of them” that I feel like I see any time a smaller band gets covered lmao.

Kevin: I’m Kevin, I play drums for pulses. and write most of the lyrics. I’ll echo the others and say some variant of “this isn’t real emo/post-hardcore music at all”

What is your proudest moment you’ve had so far as a band?

Matt: For me, I think it was the The Home Team tour we did earlier this fall. It was just really cool to have a band of their level take a chance on us, even if it was just for some routing dates, & I think we rose to the occasion & I’m proud of us for that. This has been the first year we’ve gotten to do some support tours & I’m really looking forward to doing more!

Caleb: Yeah getting picked up for The Home Team tour is definitely up there. I’d say for me honestly, was releasing our latest full-length record It Wasn’t Supposed to Be Like This. I feel like it’s solidly our best work to date and just the sessions we had writing and recording the songs were such a reminder to me on why I love doing this band. Plus on my end of things, I handled all of the engineering on it and it is the first full length record I’ve mixed. I had spent so much time trying to learn and hone my skills on the engineering side of things while also writing the music for the record with the guys, and I’m proud of how it all came out. Just a great learning experience all around.

Kevin: Agreed on the shows with The Home Team, but to provide another great moment, I’d say playing one of the main stages on the Blue Ridge Rock Festival ahead of Spiritbox and The Ghost Inside was a really cool moment for us. Having a couple of the Spiritbox folks watching us play side stage is so wild to me now that they’ve become such staples in the scene.

pulses. are an eclectic band. How do you feel you fit into the DIY scene?

Matt: I feel like in a lot of ways, it can be hard to fit in with specific genre circles in the scene, but then on the other hand, having a sound that is kinda all over the place can kinda help us fit into a lot of different places. Like the DIY ska scene, for example, has really embraced us just off of doing one ska influenced song with JER. I think one of the coolest things about DIY is that while it can be cliquey in some instances, most of the time bands & listeners alike are down to connect with anyone that feels genuine to them as people.

Caleb: Yeah, we can go through some unique feelings in trying to find where we belong because we try to take influence from so many places. I feel like it can leave some confused in some aspects but also I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love that we can fit in somehow in ska spaces, in pop spaces, hardcore spaces, metal spaces, etc. We have such an appreciation for just any cool people doing good music, and are grateful to be a part of it. We just hope that the same love for diversity in music can be appreciated by the audience too.

How do you manage to balance all of your different influences?

Matt: I feel like when we’re writing a lot of the time, we just think “what would it sound like if you put post-hardcore & *other genre* together?” & then we just try it & if it works, it works. Sometimes it’s easier than others.

Kevin: And I feel like there’s always things that don’t get into the music that we try to save for next time! It makes for a real fun time figuring out that balance puzzle.

Caleb: The thing that also keeps things balanced even when we’re making these various genre excursions is that it’s still all filtered through our writing style. No matter what style we’re going for, it’ll still come out “sounding like us” because of the way each of us as individuals write.

What are some artists that made you want to play in a band?

Matt: I remember watching Linkin Park live DVD’s when I was a kid & really wanting to do what they were doing in some capacity. Honestly though, the first time I realized it was possible was a DIY metalcore show I went to when I was like 14-15. I remember a bunch of my friends & I went & we all started bands like that next week cuz we realized that there were bands in our area that were our age/a little older that we’re doing what we had always wanted to do already.

Kevin: Linkin Park is probably the artist that made me love music more than a listener; I used to make mashups all the time as a teenager and most of them involved the band in some way or another. I love the way the band blends genre and embraces all aspects of their interests and their ethos bleeds heavily into this band. Honestly, the games Rock Band and Guitar Hero are most influential to me for actually wanting to be in a band, I wouldn’t be a drummer without them.

Caleb: Kevin and I had similar backgrounds in our interests, being brothers and all. Rock Band and Guitar Hero is what really just got me into really “listening” to music, in the sense that it taught me how to pick out different parts and instruments and such. Linkin Park and Fall Out Boy were the first bands that I truly loved, and Silverstein was the first post-hardcore band I got into that really sent me down the rabbit hole of non-mainstream music in a sense. And even though it doesn’t really come out in our music, my time in school playing viola in the orchestra gave me a love for playing live music in the first place.

Let’s talk a little about your upcoming tour with Nightlife, With Sails Ahead, and Cheem. What made you guys want to split headlining duties?

Matt: I think it just comes from the past DIY touring we’ve done. We’ve always alternated when we’ve toured with With Sails Ahead in the past & on this tour it made sense for every band to headline the date(s) in their area since every band has at least somewhat of a hometown show on the route.

Kevin: I think it also creates more of a spectacle for the tour. There’s so many shows available to people and to give them more of an event is really important to us and the rest of the tour package.

Caleb: I like the fact that it highlights each of our bands and puts us on an equal footing in a way. Like nobody on this bill is more important than the other and it’s not about having an ego. We’re all DIY bands in slightly different lanes but we share a common ethos in which we carry ourselves. I believe all four bands have so much potential to grow in the coming years, and I hope that us swapping headliner slots each night shows to the people going and those observing from afar that all of us are worth your attention.

Alternative/scene/whatever you wanna call it music has a bad reputation for stereotypically being a playground for angry white dudes, but the past decade has seen some real progress in that regard. There’s so many creative, unique bands nowadays breaking the mold, including yourselves and the bands you’re touring with. Do you think things are looking up compared to when you were starting out?

Kevin: Absolutely. I feel that social media has been making bands think more about inclusion and diversity. While we still have a ways to go from feeling like crabs in a bucket fighting for the few spots offered to non-white men, we can’t ignore the steps forward. No one is looking for a handout; we all just want to be recognized for what new ideas we bring to the table based on our cultures. Especially when some of those elements get usurped from us. That’s another reason why this tour is important: if people aren’t going to reach out to us, we’ll make our own statements and spaces to thrive.

What’s something about the band that you’ve been dying to tell people about but haven’t had the opportunity?

Matt: Not that we haven’t gotten the opportunity to talk about it necessarily, but I don’t think anyone has noticed it or really caught them all, on the closing track on our newest album, there’s a part toward the end where my guitar part is made of various riffs from every one of our releases & I still really love how it all came together.

Kevin: I don’t really know if there’s anything specific musically that I feel like we don’t open up about like all the time on twitter, haha. We like being really transparent about all our influences and inspiration. I really think people should check out all the lyrical annotations and stuff that I do on genius.com so they can see that some of this stuff has more depth than they think, especially some of the tracks on Speak Less.

Finally, what’s next for you guys? What does the future of pulses. sound like??

Matt: We’ve ended up focusing way more on shows this year, but we’ve still been writing! We’ve got a couple new things brewing for next year.

Kevin: This train has no intentions of slowing down, we’re really excited to work on new music and trying to find out ways to hit new cities to play! We’ve got some b-sides we want to polish up as well so just stay tapped in!

Caleb: It’s been a minute since we’ve put some focus back into writing, and I’m very excited to get back to it. One of the most exciting things is that I don’t exactly know what new pulses. will sound like! Having lived so many new experiences and listening to different kinds of music really has inspired me to try out new things with our stuff. And that’s always the best feeling when writing; it’s not having to force out new music and being compelled purely from a desire to create something new.

Thank you.

Check out pulses. on their upcoming tour with Nightlife, Cheem, and With Sails Ahead.  

Find tickets here.