PULSE ULTRA
The Canadian quartet overcome roadblocks
on their path to a record contract

BY C.E. PELC

When it rains, it just flat out pours for Pulse Ultra. After struggling to earn notice for their highly-evolved music in a city where trip-hop and cover bands are all the rage, and having two band members experience difficulties–one medical-related and the other tragic–immediately after signing their deal with Velvet Hammer/Atlantic Records, this quartet of hard-working and hard-rockin’ musicians will finally see the release of their debut album Headspace. According to guitarist Dominic Cifarelli, it;s something the band is beyond psyched about.

"We are too excited. In a way, we’re like little girls or something," Cifarelli laughs over the phone from the band’s hometown of Montreal, Canada. "We’re very excited and proud of the record we’ve made." And Pulse Ultra has every right to be. Led by vocalist Zo Vizza–who was discovered by Cifarelli, bassist Jeff Feldman and drummer Maxx Zinno afterhearing him sing along to the band’s demo–Pulse Ultra doesn’t really sound like anything in mainstream rock today. Songs like "Big Brother," "Slip ‘n Sin" and "Build Your Cages" are about as musically intricate as a rock song can get; the mood and tempo constantly changes and evolves, like a work of art in progress but quite close to completion.

And it’s this sound that finally earned Pulse Ultra their big break after Cifarelli approached one of the band’s favorite groups, Taproot, after a show. "[Montreal] is not big on supporting original music," Cifarelli explains about the band’s early days. "You come here and you’ll see posters everywhere for cover and tribute bands and raves. There are really not a lot of places for young bands to get started. The only thing we could do was stay in our little rehearsal spot, writing and practicing like crazy and playing a show every month or two months. We were just really lucky because we had songs that were good [and were noticed] by [Taproot guitarist] Mike [DeWolf]. Thank God for him, because it’s really difficult to get your foot in the door because there is actually no door in this fucking city." After listening to Pulse Ultra’s demo, DeWolf handed Cifarelli their management’s number, which connected Pulse Ultra with Velvet Hammer Management and eventually led to their deal signing.

However, things once again took an unfortunate turn for the band. Prior to the recording to Headspace, Zinno had been diagnosed with a hernia that just kept getting worse. And then during the recording of the album, Vizza’s father passed away, immediately changing the lives and thoughts of all four band members. "Along with what happened, everything kind of changed with everybody," Cifarelli recalls. "Everyone became a lot moodier and a lot darker. No one wants to have fun at that point; no one wants to party or do anything really. We just practiced and wrote songs to feel normal. Those six months were serious work and obviously we had fun, but there’s not a lot of fun you can have when something like that happens. It really makes you look at your life and look at what you have. It’s really hard."

With the release of Headspace on July 16^th, Pulse Ultra will now be putting all their energy into promoting their new album through a coveted spot on this year’s Ozzfest, which was given to them after Jack Osbourne handpicked the band to play for the entire festival. According to Cifarelli, this will be plenty of promotion for them without needing to do a tour on their own. "This is promotion enough with 10,000 people a day," he says, rather matter-of-factly. "If we don’t sell any records, then it’s our fault." Personally, after listening to Headspace, I don’t see that being a problem.