Pulley

Jim Blowers, guitarist of the phenomenal punk band Pulley, was kind enough to take time off from his busy schedule and sit down with me as the band passed through Edmonton with the Frostbite Tour 2004. We talked about all sorts and he was very excited for the band’s fifth studio album, Matters, which comes out on April 6th on Epitaph Records. He was really cool and down to earth, and gave some very interesting answers which all you Avril haters will love. I would like to once again thank Jim for doing it and Keith at Epitaph for setting it up. During the course of this interview I had some help from my friend Kevin as well.

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Bobby: Okay, starting with the basics, can you please state your name and what you do in Pulley?

Jim: My name is Jim and I play guitar in Pulley.

Bobby: How did you guys all meet?

Jim: Over a course of time, over at least a 15 year course of time. We’ve all known each other from different bands and basically bands come and go and eventually we all merged together. That’s pretty much it.

Bobby: It’s been three years since we last saw a record from you guys, why so long a wait?

Jim: Why the long time? Because Jim Cherry, who I replaced, left the band and they recorded the last album with only four guys basically; instead of five which it usually was. Once the last album was recorded I joined and I toured on the album right when it came out. After that you tour and you write and you write and then you call the record label and say “okay, we’re ready to record.” “Okay, we’ll book some time for you.” And then it turns out its 6 months, 8 months down the line that you can record; and basically that’s why it took three years. That’s it, no good reason.

Bobby: Your new album, Matters, comes out on April 6th on Epitaph. Are you excited for it?

Jim: O, absolutely, yep.

Bobby: What can we expect from it?

Jim: A bigger production. Ryan Greene, traditionally, is really tight, his production is usually really tight; really compress the sound, really dry, really raw, its a really great sound. With Matt Hyde, its a bigger sound. There’s a lot more vocals, it breathes a little bit more. Both producers are really insane at what they do, we just needed a different approach. As far as what I think about the record, I don’t think there’s a stinker on the album.

Bobby: What’s your favorite song on the album and why?

Jim: You know what, I couldn’t tell ya. I like them all. Seriously we were listening to it when the record came out, or when we finally got a finished master copy of it; we were listening going “I can’t hear anything I don’t like.” Sometimes you get a record from a band that you like and there’s one song that sucks on it, or like two songs that suck, and you know they’re filler. You know what I mean? We really didn’t think about a filler song. I mean we do one cover song and that’s “Land Of The Lost” and that’s on there. But even that came out good, I’m happy with that.

Bobby: Why did you call it “Matters”?

Jim: “Matters” is the name of the vehicle that we drive around in when we tour. Normally in the United States and in Canada, we don’t have the luxury of using a tour bus. We have a bus that has been used by Lagwagon and NOFX and a lot of other bands. It’s changed hands many times and now we own it. It basically is a converted… Have you seen the cover?

Bobby: Yes, I have.

Jim: That’s it. That’s what it is. It’s basically a shuttle bus that you’d use to get to the airport and back. But it’s all converted on the inside and there’s room for the equipment in the back and we don’t have to haul a trailer and basically it’s called “Matters”. If something breaks on it, if something’s not working, it matters. That’s basically where the name came from.

Bobby: On the new album, there’s a song called YSC. What does that stand for?

Jim: Jesus, I’m not really good with the titles. You know what, remember to ask that question if you see one of the other guys in the band cause I don’t know. In fact, I’m not really good as far as matching song names. I only know the songs we’re playing live right now, I can only associate the title to the song because we’re playing them. And I’ll tell you why. It’s because when you write a bunch of songs over a period of time, they usually end up being song #1, song #2, song #3; they don’t get titles until Scott’s 100% satisfied with the lyrics and what the song’s going to be about. So excuse me for not knowing, I’m sorry.

Bobby: That’s okay, that’s okay. How do you guys normally write all you songs?

Jim: As a unit. Usually one guy will have the basic structure, feel, of the song; or the body. Let’s say a body with no arms or legs or a head. They bring in that part and we add the parts to make it complete. So it’s definitely, like 100%, everyone has their input.

Bobby: This is your fifth album on Epitaph Records, how did you guys end up meeting them?

Jim: Through Brett liking Scott’s voice so much and giving him the second chance that he needed. Because of what happened with Ten Foot Pole and Scott really wanted to put a band together for fun. What he tried to do with Ten Foot Pole succeeded, but things back fired on him for the efforts that he made. The other guys in the band wanted to go a different direction once the “Rev” album took off. And Brett, I believe, well this more of a question for Scott, but I’ll answer it the best from what I’ve heard him talking about. Brett really likes the way Scott voice sounds and Scott put a band together in a short period of time and did a rough demo, gave the demo to Brett and Brett said that was it and signed the contract.

Bobby: Would you guys ever leave it and sign to a major?

Jim: Honestly, I don’t think that is ever going to happen. But if the scenario did happen, I think… I know it’s hard-core and really devoted in being for the cause and stuff like that to say no, but we have to eat and we have to pay rent and we have to have a family if we’re going to have family; or we’re going to have to survive. If you look at a band like The Offspring or NoFx, NoFx is not like The Offspring, but during 1994-95 period, when punk rock really took off, those bands were just like us. But because the scene was happening, they got pulled into that. And yes, some of them went major. Green Day, Offspring, a couple other bands. But you know NoFx can survive on their own, you know that Pennywise can survive on their own of the touring that they do. They didn’t sign, but they were out at the right time. If it was now and a major label wanted to sign us, and they wanted to market us and they wanted to put us out there, sure, I’d do it but I don’t think they would because we’re not a marketable band. We don’t look like Good Charlotte and Good Charlotte’s marketable and we’re not. Visually marketable. Anyway, go ahead, I’m probably wearing your tape out.

Bobby: Nah, nah, it’s a 90 minute tape, we have lots left. Why do you think major labels are picking up more and more punk bands lately?

Jim: I think major labels are looking for guys that look like a punk band. Do I look like I play in a punk band? No, I don’t. But if you’ve got a bunch of guys that look like they play in a punk band, then they’ll pick them up and half the time once they pick them up, there’s a lot of nurturing and a lot of pre-production of that band. To make sure that when they get out on stage, that’s the way they want them to look. Not a lot of artistic freedom in that.

Bobby: I know you guys don’t like to get press for this, but how does it feel to be the only band in punk rock history to have a singer who has pitched in the major leagues?

Jim: Entirely coincidence. Entirely coincidence.

Bobby: Going back to your 2001 release, “Together Again For The First Time”, why do you have two people have doggy style sex on the back cover?

Jim: Here’s the thing, if you look at the cover of the CD, the couple standing on the front lawn looking at the dogs sniffing each other’s asses. Usually when dogs sniff each other’s asses is when they are getting to know each other. If you look at the back of the CD, they got the idea. Doggy style. That’s what it is, that’s all it is.

Bobby: If you could pick one person or band, dead or alive to tour with, who would you pick to tour with and why?

Jim: Its hard to say man. Its really hard to say. My experience with the bands that we have tour with has been good, I could pick any of those bands. Bands that we’ve never toured with, I would love to tour with Pennywise. I’d love to go on tour with those guys because we love playing to massive crowds, we have no problem being direct support. In fact, I think we’re better as a direct support band then we are as a headliner. It’s easier to say who I wouldn’t tour with and that would be Avril Lavigne and Good Charlotte and they’d probably never ask us anyway, because we’re too old. Its a difficult question. Those are the two I could see not touring with.

Bobby: Nowadays, you find MP3s all over the Internet, Kazaa, Morpheus, things like that. How do you feel about that? Good, bad, what’s your opinion?

Jim: You can’t control it and its really tough to be on a label these days, its really tough to be owning a record label, its really tough to be involved in the record industry right now because your losing money left and right. Its not like it used to be and there’s nothing you can do about it. I download too. I’m not going to sit here and tell people not to do it. You can’t regulate it, so why fight it? What’s the point?

You know what, just to finish that. Most bands make their money off of touring anyway. Maybe back in the day, before everyone had CD burners and the ability to burn, download music, then even a punk band on Epitaph could probably survive a little bit of record sales, but it’s highly unlikely anyways.

Bobby: I recently read an article in Alternative Press about Tim Armstrong and one of the main themes was “Through music you can live forever”. What do you think about that quote?

Jim: I would have to read the article, but the statement, I don’t know where he’s coming from. “Through Music You Can Live Forever”, if your the artist then ya, then you’ve written something that’s pretty profound and then ya, it’s going to live forever. What’s said in the song is going to live on forever. If you look at the song that Pennywise put out, about their bass player dying. Everybody knows that. Through music, that’s living forever. If that’s what he means, then yes, he’s right. If he meant something completely different, then again, I would have to read the article.

Bobby: I think one thing he meant was about Brody and how music can help you through all your hard times.

Jim: I think what it is is that music is something that you can’t take away from someone or an individual.

Kevin: What’s the one question that you get asked so much in interviews that it is just completely annoying now?

Jim: Who’s your influences.

Bobby: Why does it bother you?

Jim: Because it’s one of those standard questions that’s like “I don’t have anything better to ask you then that.”

Kevin: Or else like “where did you get your name”?

Jim: “What does Pulley mean?” or whatever. You know what, that again is a question that, I wasn’t in the band at the time when the name of the band came out, so that’s a question I couldn’t answer. But ya, that’s probably one of the most annoying ones. Because when you usually ask the person who plays guitar, who plays bass, who plays drums, some kind of musician one way or another, they don’t just listen to punk rock. We just bought a Stix DVD down at the music store; and you guys are probably going like “those guys are gay.” But you know, its just music. We like it. We enjoy it. Its fun. We brought one CD on this entire tour that we listen to. I think people get a depiction of bands when they go on tour, especially punk bands, that they’ve got nothing but punk rock, 24 hours, running through the CD. And all they’re doing is punk rock things and breaking shit. But no, that’s not it. Most musicians like a wide variety.

Bobby: If you guys were stranded on a desert island, with no food and nothing to eat, which one of the band members would you eat to survive and why?

Jim: Tyler for sure.

Bobby: Why?

Jim: Why? You know, I don’t have a good reason. I would just like to eat him.

Bobby: If you could have one thing at this moment, anything at all; what would you have and why?

Jim: Lots of money. Because I don’t want to worry about paying the bills. If it sounds not punk rock to say that, then I guess I’m not punk rock.

Bobby: I guess that’s about it, do you have any shoot-outs before we end?

Jim: Hi Kate, I love you.