Pulaski

Somehow drawn together by the far-reaching tentacles of musical fate, several guys decided they would make noises together. Over the years, bands swap members, dissolve, reform, implode and dehydrate. Pulaski is a product of this phenomenon. Certainly, cutting one’s teeth on the popular music of the 70’s and 80’s could be extremely dangerous if not fatal. But when the skeletons in your closet include everything from ELO and Quiet Riot to Zappa and the Clash, collaboration can often reap rewards. Throw in a dash of Dr. Seuss, a smidgeon of sitting way too close to the TV, and the tell-tale fact that not many members were breastfed, and you might have a basic character sketch of the band.Playing Pulaski’s brand of self-effacing, sardonic rock music does have its drawbacks. For one, it lacks hipness. Too tongue-in-cheek to meet today’s indie standards, too many screaming guitars to be pop, and too schizophrenic to be punk. And with their collective hip-hop roots drawing from Hendrix, Sanford & Son, and Fishbone, your friends might make fun of you if you blast it through the speakers in your trunk.Though genre-specific nomenclature fails at times, it might still be fun to imagine a scene where mangled Byrds and fatally wounded Beach Boys lie gasping amongst broken Casios and waterlogged vintage distortion pedals…all strewn across Neil Young’s muddy lawn after an all-night battle royale featuring Tripping Daisy vs. The Flaming Lips circa 1995.On their third offering of the new millennium, You’re Dead to Me, I Love You (2008 Atomic Twang Records), Pulaski wrote, recorded and re-mixed everything in their home studio(s). After more than two years and very little sunlight, the original quirky demo ditties emerged, transformed into sprawling mutant butterflies. With no place to nest upon, finding Vaudeville long dead, they are content to now feast on the eardrums of unsuspecting listeners.Pulaski does not make music for themselves, nor do they endeavor to impress other musicians. Pulaski makes music because they can. And if you try to stop them, those giant mutant butterflies just may come and get you while you sleep.