quickening the pulsz

In the past eighteen months Maghera s Pulszar have released two singles, played gigs throughout Ireland and London, sneaked their way onto MTV s playlist, and drunk chardonnay with Placebo. Which is quite an achievement when you consider that, when they re not swanning around with diminutive would-be Bowie-acolytes, the trio (two sisters and a cousin) are all still pounding the academic treadmill. And exhibiting all the necessary survival strategies you d expect of waster undergrads.

We went out last Thursday with 15p between us and ended up getting very drunk, admits Aisling Gallagher, the band s bassist, lyricist and, (scarily) at 21, eldest partner.
And how did you manage that?
We went to an art exhibition that one of our friends was involved in and found out they were giving out free vodka. Then we won twenty-five pound in a Karaoke competition and we ended the night playing air guitar with Smirnoff Ice bottles at a Led Zeppelin tribute band. It was all very enjoyable.
The Karaoke was great, says lead guitarist Annette Quinn. Kerrie Ann sang Like A Prayer and the place went mad. Kerrie Ann used to be the wee girl singing la-la-la, now she s pushing people out of the way to get to the stage. I WANT to do Karaoke.
I did the Madonna bit, the choir bit, everything, Kerrie Ann Gallagher proudly reveals. It s definitely her best song. We really want to cover it, but Darren our drummer (whom they ve borrowed from label mates Asterix) refuses. He says it s too chessy. We might try to talk him round to Material Girl .
Darren should probably be worried.
Pulszar s first break came around two years ago when Peter Fleming, bass player with 4AD band Scheer returned home to Derry to reconsider his options in light of his band s demise.
One night, after hearing that the cousins that lived across the street from him had formed their own group, he went along to see them play. He didn t expect much. He didn t expect them to sound as powerful as they did, or that the tiny lead singer would have a voice to put out bonfires. And he certainly didn t expect that, half way through, he would have to get up on stage and help them change the strings on their guitars because they didn t know how.
Peter had decided to set up Schism, a top-notch Northern label, and had been planning to go out and about scouting. With Pulszar, he didn t waste any mileage he found a band that shared his milkman. It was ideal. Since then they have released the Can t Help EP and, on September 18th, the double-header Don t Make Me/Black Water hits the shops.
Produced (as all Schism s releases are) by Lima s Neal Calderwood, Pulszar s newie sounds like Siouxsie and The Banshees scrubbed up for a night in the Noughties. It s dark, lush and, once Kerrie Ann starts letting loose, enough to frighten animals. Given that she probably punches a division or two below even Bjork, you have to wonder where it comes from.
Any time we go to play somewhere new, Aisling says, the soundman always turns the mikes all the way up because he sees this wee figure and thinks Ach, look at her. She s going to get drowned out . Then once she starts singing, you ll hear them going Oh, my good God .
At some stage Kerrie Ann will stumble across a copy of Dusty In Memphis and discover that a whisper can usher in as much devastation as a yell. At the moment, though, with her propensity for giving it plenty of raw-throated welly, it seems she has more in common with the mighty Liam than a surname.
No matter how Pulszar develop, given that Kerrie Ann thinks Lauren Laverne and her ilk can t sing for shit , don t expect to see her transformed into the shrinking indie violet of yore. The band are far happier nodding in the lauded direction of Mazzy Star s Hope Sandoval and Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses. Musically, their debt to their boss s former hard-rocking outfit is clear.
Last year s Dublin support slot with Placebo, though, has left them with questionable taste in barnets.
They were on Top Of The Pops last week, says Kerrie Ann, and I really like Brian s new haircut. But I think he had to do something. He dyed it so often I think it was giving him a few wee problems. Not that I m anyone to speak.
Now that they ve acquired the taste for the high-life, how can hotpress possibly compete?
We re going home now to see our new video, Annette tells us. Apparently we look very cool, with big fluffy coats and sunglasses. It was made in London and Letterkenny.
And which was more exciting?
Don t knock Letterkenny. When we played there it was full of rockers head-banging to our slow songs. We loved it.
So, their ballads put metallers in a frenzy, and they can get wasted without splitting a twenty pence piece. Be afraid, people, be very afraid. Pulszar are out to get you.