Interview: The Pulltops Dilate the Nuances of Their Latest Release ‘With You’

The Pulltops are a Milwaukee-based duo formed by Drummer Mark Pierret and guitarist Tom Crowell. Brought together by their love for record collection and keen musical exploration, the band was formed in the early 2000s. In this interview, Tom speaks to us on behalf of the band about their latest release, ‘With You’. Their passion for composition and creativity inspires our own. Listen Now!

Congratulations on your latest release, ‘With You’. We’re so excited to have this interview with you.

1. What inspired the creation of the single and how does it manifest in the song?

Thanks! And thanks for having us! We really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us about our music. As far as writing goes for us, we’re always inspired by sound first. The mood of the instrumental for a song will push us in the direction we should go with the lyrics. In this case, I (Tom) was messing around with the synth pad and pulsing rhythm and came up with that very 80’s very-sounding chord sequence. Right away, it just put us in this “space”.

We don’t really write that many ballads. So it was fun to explore this direction. We still ended up with something rather epic in the chorus. I guess we can’t get away from that, even in a ballad!

2. The Pulltops is a very unique name. What is the significance behind it and how did it become a part of your sonic identity?

We were aware that we have a strong retro influence in everything we do, and we wanted a name that reflected that. It’s actually a bit of a reference to old soda and beer cans from the 70’s where you would actually pull the tab off of the can. It’s kind of an obscure reference, but we liked what it represented.

3. Given the vast differences between yours and Mark’s styles and musical influences, how do you go about reconciling your vision? What are some of the values that anchor both of you while creating music as The Pulltops?

No matter what the influences are between us, different or similar, the one thing we have in common is our love for hooks and pop songwriting. So strong solid melodies are always the foundation. The rest really just depends on the emotion we are trying to convey. We both agree that whatever is best for the song always wins out, so it will stylistically change from song to song.

4. The track is largely melodic, sporting gracious soul builds and mellifluous sensibilities. How did this track particularly unite your styles?

It's really quite the mashup of things, isn’t it? Songwriting itself can tend to be more intentional. Making sure the story is there, and the hook is there, the arrangement with verse and chorus. The instrumentation is where the mix of styles and experimentation comes in, and also when our instinct kicks in. Sometimes we just grab whatever instrument is closest and try that first. In this case, having the synth played first and working from that sound really set the tone. But if we feel there may be too much of one thing, and if it’s too one-dimensional, well that’s when we reach for something from a completely different style or genre. And that’s when it gets interesting.

We both have a lot of favorite bands who were forever changing their approach, jumping from style to style, going back to classic bands like Queen for instance. The blending of styles or genres was always interesting to us.

5. The two of you have explored a range of themes across all your releases, sonically and otherwise. What are some themes that you find yourselves gravitating to or feel the need to explore more?

We do gravitate to things we’re personally going through, which do tend to be common lyrical themes for everyone. Just trying to figure out life in general, what makes you happy, growing older, perhaps losing friends along the way, but strengthening the relationships with the friends you have. It’s all very relatable, and things we’ve connect with in the songs we like to listen to, and in the songs we write.

6. You have had quite the year with so many exciting releases. What do you have lined up for your listeners in the near future?

We still have a lot of songs to sift through that we’ve written in the past two years. But we’re also itching to jump in and write a few new songs from scratch. The pendulum will swing back and forth between synth driven and guitar driven. Mixing the two together is always fun. It’s been a while since we’ve done something acoustic, so we may need to take a step in that direction just to keep it interesting and fresh. I think the next song will have some acoustic in it, but I think it will end up a bit epic again. We just can’t get away from that!

Thanks again for having us. We really appreciate it!