Pulse beats stronger then ever

Times Reporter

 

Being in a band is a passion of many teens, but often by adulthood life has gotten in the way and the idealistic rock star mentality has fallen away. 

While none of them think they will be rock stars, the members of Pulse are still going strong and the original members have just played their 20th Canada Day performance earlier this month. 

“We’re not making our fortune with it and we never will make a fortune with it, with life as busy as it is sometimes it’s nice to have an excuse to slow down, to get together with the boys and just make some loud music and have a good time,” said drummer Mike Field.

“From a music standpoint I think the idea of being really big and travelling all the time, there’s a certain appeal to that, but then there’s the problem that you’re always on the road and not necessarily always with your family and all the negative that goes with it too,” said lead guitarist Todd Tibeau. 

The band originally made its first public appearance in 1991, and played their first official Canada Day in 1992. Lead vocalist Mike Smith and Field have been together since the beginning. Tibeau joined the band a few years later and in bass guitarist Paul Sonsteby joined in 2004. With each new member the name of the band has changed. 

“Basically I went to school with Mike Field and Mike Smith and we’re all good friends. They started playing and then I kind of got interested in playing just after and it just kind of started out as a friendship thing,” said Tibeau. 

“Before I was in the band they started doing the Canada Day thing where they just came up with the idea ‘why don’t we just set up in the park on Canada Day and just start doing it kind of free.”

Sonsteby joined the band in 2004, and it was like finding a long lost family member. The sentiment is shared amongst the four band mates. 

“When we found Paul it was like a long lost brother, it was great. He just fit right in as soon as we met him. I’m playing with three of my very best friends and if we play five things a year, if we play two, so be it. It doesn’t matter how busy or not (we are),” said Smith. 

“It’s almost like an extended family, like another branch of the kinfolk. It’s so easy to hang out with those guys.”

“It’s as much getting together with those three guys as it is anything else. It’s an excuse for the four of us to get together and hang out, that is by far my favourite part of it,” said Sonsteby. 

“We just enjoy getting together and playing some music. We do have the ambitions of trying to do some originals and stuff like that it’s just more the time commitment right now, just because it actually takes more time to sit and write and actually produce a song,” said Tibeau. 

When hearing about the eclectic mix of musical idols amongst the men it doesn’t seem like it would mesh well, but it does. 

“We’re kind of diverse, you’ve got the country guy, we’ve got the classic guy, we’ve got the rocker guy, we’ve got kind of the new rock guy. So when we pick songs it’s all over the map,” said Field. 

“A few years ago Mike did an intro for when we go up on stage and he mixed a song from each of our favourite bands and it was stretched from Alabama to U2 to Van Halen to Pearl Jam,” said Sonsteby.

“Todd for sure is all about U2, Mike is all about Van Halen and Paul is Pearl Jam. So you put it all in a blender and you come out with Pulse,” said Smith laughing.

Smith said he could see himself and the guys keeping the band going and continuing to play Canada Day for another 20 years.