Pulley's Scott Radinsky on Their Upcoming Split EP with Fire Sale, Being in Pulley for 40+ Years

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hey, hey, thanks for checking out this episode of the Ropes and Riffs podcast.

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My name is Jon, I am your wrestling entrance theme song composer here.

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And today I've got a legend on the show, not me.

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I'm not the legend, but you know who the legend is?

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Scott Radinski of Pulley.

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The band's been around 40 years.

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They've got a new split record coming out with Fire Sale.

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It's gonna be coming out September 5th.

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And Scott was able to take a couple of minutes today to be able to talk about the concept

of the songs that they provided to it.

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what makes Pulley's 40-year success attainable and talk about how they're brothers in the

industry.

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And obviously we ask what three songs would represent him as we ask every guest on the

show,

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and I can't wait for you guys to hear the musicians that Scott would put in the squared

circle to duke it out.

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As always, thank you for checking out the Ropes and Riffs podcast.

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Follow us on anywhere you check out podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube.

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And if you donate $10 or more to Ropes and Riffs over on PayPal, a donation of $10 or more

will get you a shout out on the show.

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So without any further ado, let's jump into it with Scott Radinsky of Pulleys.

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The man, the myth, legend, Scott Radinsky here with us in the house from the band Pulley.

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How you doing my friend?

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I'm doing great, how are you?

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is quite the day as we say, but I didn't mean for that to rhyme, but it did.

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You're the lyricist, not me, but we both talk in our own respective ways, right?

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So thank you so much for joining us today.

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We're joined on a few days out from the pulley fire sale split record that's coming out.

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Tell us a little bit about that, because I have been a fan of pulley for so many years

now, and you guys have put out so many records, you've worked with so many people,

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for you guys to be able to put a split out with fire sale.

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Talk to us a little bit about how that came to be.

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And then we'll get into some of the songs.

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All right, it's always exciting when you're putting together new music and getting ready

to have some sort of release.

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When Chris, the guitar player, reached out through an email asking if we had any interest,

it was a no-brainer for us.

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And we said, yeah, of course.

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And we didn't exactly have songs ready to go, but we've always got ideas in kind of like

the vault.

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And so when we were pushed to have a reason,

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They said, hey, we're going to each do two songs.

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It was like, all right, cool.

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We can dig into the batch of stuff we have and come up with some ideas or rearrange some

ideas and make some music out of it.

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And that's always the exciting part about when you're in a band and you get to create and

write and then go through the recording process and see the whole thing come to fruition

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and get put out and have people listen to it.

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So it's super exciting.

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mean, whether it's a full length, one song, two songs, doesn't really matter.

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Anytime you get to put out new music.

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It's a good thing.

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And I love the fact too that you're just like, Hey, we might not have had as many songs in

the chamber as like maybe going in for a full release or something like that.

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But you guys, again, are legends in the industry.

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You guys have so much music that you've written.

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I feel like if someone comes to you and says, Hey, let's go ahead and put some music down

for you, for the rest of the band.

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It's almost like, all right, cool.

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We got it.

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Yeah, mean, that's true.

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That's exactly how it works.

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I don't think that makes us any different than any other band.

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It's just that motivation factor of, we're going to record, we're going to put something

out.

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And it's kind of like, even when you're getting ready for a full length, you've got 12, 15

songs you're going over for months and months.

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The second you get in the studio or the week before you get in the studio, it's like,

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the switch turns on and you elevate your game to another level and it's exciting man, it's

fun, it's a good thrill.

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And so talk to us a little bit about some of the songs, on the split you have torn apart

by time and you have write a note if you leave.

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you know, when you talk to artists who are putting out albums with, you know, 10, 11, 12

songs, it's like, Hey, let's pick and choose the conversation.

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But with the split, I think we can get kind of detailed with each of the songs.

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So take us a little bit between writing a torn apart by time and how that one came up.

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torn apart by time was basically just some riffs that that were kind of arranged and and

the way me and our guitar player Mike work is I might like hum something over the phone to

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him and he'll start to play it and we kind of figured out that way and So we had the music

I started writing lyrics and we kind of had that song done lyrically

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the interpretation to the listener.

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The way we write, unless it's really hitting home on a specific meaning as the other song

was, we kind of write in a way where it kind of just leaves a little bit of a gray area

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where you might interpret it one way, someone else might interpret it another.

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And there's enough substance there to give you a direction, but there's not too much

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that says you can't go down this path and you can't go down that path.

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That's kind of almost like a conscious, I know people like to have a story and they have

to have something behind a song and maybe sometimes people might say, that person, and I'm

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not saying me, but just in general, obviously can refer to me, but those lyrics don't make

any sense.

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Well, all lyrics make sense.

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And if you look at them line by line, and since I started really getting into this years

ago,

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You start looking at it line by line.

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You can take pieces out of a song however you want.

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There might be 15 different meanings.

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It might be talking about 15 different people.

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It might be talking about yourself.

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It might be talking about the, you know, there's just so much gray area.

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And Torn Apart by Time, would say lyrically, is probably a song like that.

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Musically, it's a lot of riffs that are kind of all over the place that you kind of

harness together.

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and make some kind of structure out of it where it's a sensible song.

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I might not be asking your question.

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I might be going down a long road here.

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yeah, I mean, I can't really say much about the song other than it's just one of those

songs where take it how you take it.

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I love it.

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But I love too how like, you know, when I kind of see the write up for it, when we get the

PR releases, when we get to listen to the music, it's like, you kind of get a little bit

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of a concept when you're doing a quick listen back.

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And I felt like with that song, at least for me, what uh I took from it was kind of be in

the moment.

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You know, we have so many things that go on in life.

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We have so many things that we have kids, have jobs, we have responsibilities.

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You know, we have all these different things that we do.

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but you get this sense of like something you have to figure out how to create that time

for yourself and be able to just kind of be in the moment with the things that really mean

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a lot to you.

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That's a really good take on it.

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I haven't personally thought of it that way.

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There was moments when I was scribbling words together where thinking being in a band for

40 plus years and how the evolution of that changes and how here we are in the moment, as

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you would say, 40 years later, kind of torn apart by the time.

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It's like...

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where people got families, have full-time jobs, we try to be in a band, we try to tour,

there's just a lot going on.

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I have never thought of it that way, but being in the moment is where we all need to be.

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I love that.

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And you you, you touched on it too.

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The fact that you've been a band for 40 plus years and you know, you've done everything

from MLB to being in the band to being in multiple bands also.

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for you to have this longevity in pulley, we have so many bands that exist for maybe five,

10 years, even shorter times, some bands that go on to have these illustrious careers,

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right?

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But for you, what's the most important thing about being in a band that has this longevity

to it?

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I mean, I think it's like any long-term relationship, it's the people you're with.

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first and foremost, I mean, that's probably the most grateful thing is to be with people

that you actually enjoy being with.

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I can honestly call the people in my band friends.

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quite a few of the members we've been, dated back to the 80s when we were in high school,

you know, sitting on the quad at lunchtime.

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you know, talking about this moment 40 years later, talking about it, you know, 40 years

ago.

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And to be able to actually have the persistency and the determination to continue to just,

we were very fortunate to start off on a record label that was, I mean, the best record

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label there could possibly be in our genre, our scene to be on.

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And there's no doubt that that helped get the name out there and helped.

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kickstart Allow us to do what we did but you know that was really only the first ten years

of being in a band and So the last 20 plus years of pulling it's determination The fact

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that we like each other we get along if you went to a gig and there was you know four

bands on the bill and there was four Backstages if you walked into our backstage, you're

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gonna see five guys hanging out together

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We don't, it's not like we're sitting partying and drinking or whatever.

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We're hanging out together and we might even be rehearsing for the show, but we get along

and we don't mind being together.

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So that is a huge part.

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And I think the fact that the whole, the model behind it, whole way the whole thing

started from day one always has been, we just want to have fun.

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And everybody starts playing in a band to have fun.

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Some people want to take it to another level and I think

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It's so difficult and such a challenge to make it as a band and make it a successful

career that people get to a point where they're all in and then they get to a point where

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it's like, hey, we can't do this anymore.

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I gotta start my life.

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I gotta get a job.

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And I think that's one route that a lot of bands go where they end up breaking up,

fighting arguments, non-compatibility.

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So I think definitely for me, not to be long-winded with it, but

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It's just the getting along factor.

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think that's the hugest part of what our existence and longevity can be related

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And I think everybody who's been in a band that long or anybody who's continued to do this

at the level that you guys do says the same thing.

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They're like, you know what?

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I still call people my brothers.

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still call them my friends.

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still are, you know, at the core of it.

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That's what really ties everybody together.

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Like the music is the music, the business is the business.

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But if you don't have that relationship with the people, then it's the hardest thing to

do.

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Right.

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It's the hardest thing to be able to get on stage, write music and be kind of with people

and.

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I know for me, any projects I've been in, it's been the same exact thing.

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know, life may take you by and may do other things, but at the same time, if you're able

to lock in and you're able to be, I get going back to the point, right?

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In the moment with those people, and these are people you really enjoy being in the moment

with.

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I think that there's something really important about that.

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And that brings us to the next song, which is write a note if you leave, which by the way,

in terms of lyric choices, obviously mint, but in terms of title choices, stellar.

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I'd love for you to take us through a little bit.

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I know it's a bit esoteric, like you said, but what were some of the things that you were

thinking when you were putting together lyrics for this song?

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Well, lyrically this song was written by Mike the guitar player and it's a pretty personal

song to him and it really does have a meaning behind it.

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His mom was going through a tough time and she was really sick and he basically is writing

about the last moments he shared with her and his life growing up and reflecting on

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memories that he had throughout his childhood and leading up

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to being in the moment when he's sitting on the side of a bed, you know, in those last

moments.

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And, you know, it's a really personal song and I probably am not the one to really

elaborate on it.

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But I was involved in collaborating with him, you know, with some lines and trying to make

some of the structure make sense for me vocally.

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And, you know, that's one thing that I'm super grateful working with a guy like him is we

understand

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when we're writing a song, and it's not to be selfish as a singer, but the songs are based

around vocal melody, at least our styles, based around vocal melody and some kind of

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consistency and structure.

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you know, when someone presents a song, my first question is, yeah, it's great.

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The music sounds great.

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What would you sing over that?

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Because I might not hear it.

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And if they're like, well, what do you mean?

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Just sing something.

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It's catchy.

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It's melody.

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It's not that easy.

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I'm not that good to just be like, snap my finger and come up with this great hook.

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So as we start from the very beginning and we start writing the music, hum me what you're

hearing.

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And he starts humming something.

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We didn't have lyrics.

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And we start to kind of collaborate on the words.

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But that song is pretty personal and it's relatively hits home.

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This was just, I think, a few years ago that...

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he had to go through this and you know it was a really tough time and it's personal

heartfelt song and it did help being able to be involved at some point to write some of

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lyrics and help create some of the phrasing so that I could be involved and I could be

connected to the song even though it wasn't me personally who was feeling those feelings.

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Being able to help create it gets me enough involvement to be connected to the song and

feel like it's coming out of my heart too.

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So it's kind of like, guess, acting in a role.

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We have to play that part and you really dig deep into what's being said and try to make

that come out and have some feeling and meaning from your own self.

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And that's kind of where I'm at with that song.

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love too where you brought up the collaborative part of it though too.

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And I think a lot of bands sometimes it's like, hey, I'm the singer, so I deal with all

the melodies of the vocals and all the lyrics.

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I'm the guitarist, so I deal with the riffs, right?

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And now shall they connect, right?

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Or now shall they cross streams, right?

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But I feel like that's been one of the things with you guys for years that's been such a

stronghold, right?

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Is this collaborative process, is the ability to kind of reach across and say, you know

what, if you've got this and we can, and you already have a bit of a concept.

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Let's go ahead and build that together because again, it just, really ties together.

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Like, Hey, you're going to be the one singing it, but it's your message.

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And if there is a way that I can help bring that to light in the best way that I can and

vice versa, then I think we can really do that.

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And you know, I think bands work differently too.

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Some are very melodically driven, some are lyrically driven, and then you kind of fit it

to that.

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It sounds like you guys have such a good hold on being collaborative in a band and

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I think that comes to what you were saying earlier where it's like, hey, we really respect

each other.

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We're brothers, we're friends, and we want to do right by each other.

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Yeah, mean, for sure, we want to do right by each other.

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I mean, there's no doubt in that.

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And there's no egos, which is huge.

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And I think that reflects on what you were saying with the collaboration part of it.

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It's taken a long time to figure out the formula.

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And I think we're OK with that.

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think some of the people that maybe

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And I don't want to use the word contribute because that would be short selling them.

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But if it's two people getting in a room and hashing over ideas and then presenting that

to the band, you know.

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or then it's two other people coming up with ideas and they're presenting that to the

band, it works.

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And like I said, it's taken a long time to figure out the formula.

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We don't have a single songwriter, so to speak.

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We do have times when I might write a complete song, might write a complete song, know,

lyrically and musically.

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But it's never complete in the way I started out.

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Because once I present it to everybody,

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Tyler, the bass player, will have a suggestion, hey, let's extend this part, let's do

that.

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And we start to collaborate on an idea.

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So it's not, like I said, a single person's piece of work.

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So it's taken a while, and by no means are we perfecting it or saying we ever have or ever

will, but for us it works.

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And we're proud of what we do.

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Like I said, it's taken a while to figure it out and thank God we've had the opportunity

to withstand each other for a long enough time to get to this point.

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See, you won't say you perfected it, but being around 40 years, I can say it.

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You don't have to say it.

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I will.

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I think you guys have done a great job in bringing that to the forefront.

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So, you know, it's really interesting and I love the story.

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And again, the lyrics, the conversation we're having, it's all about really that

community.

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You know, it's really about like you guys being in that moment.

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And I'm going to keep going back to that because that's something I really love in this

conversation.

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a couple more things before I let you go, my friend.

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And this is...

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a staple of this show as we talk about some things with wrestling, some things with music.

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So if you had to book three wrestling matches, one man versus man, one tag team and one

women's match,

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and all of the participants only were musicians wrestling in the squared circle.

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What matches would you make and who would win?

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Wow.

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So I have to pick musicians to be the wrestlers.

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And I got to pick a tag team first.

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Okay.

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I'm definitely going.

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Fletcher from Pennywise and the big bitch from Lag Wagon.

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Yeah.

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so for my singles match, I'd probably take Henry Rollins.

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Henry Rollins versus Tesco via the meat men And For my women's Man, I some good choices,

huh?

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I'm definitely going Olga from this band called Svetlana's I don't know if you ever heard

of them, but people look them up And who would she go against let me find a good

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challenger can I pick somebody that's no longer with us

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You absolutely can.

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How about Windy O'Williams of the Plasmatics?

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All right.

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man.

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That's a good one.

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That's also.

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would be a good visual to watch too, you know?

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See, now I gotta ask you who goes over in all of those.

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my gosh.

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Henry Rollins, I like just goes over no matter what.

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Yeah, before the match even starts oh I'd take Fletcher and Chris from lagwa I take those

guys over anybody so you can choose whoever you want to challenge them and between Wendell

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Williams and Olga I Don't know man.

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We might have to go tie.

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Is there such a thing in wrestling?

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You can go to a draw, but then they usually do a breaker later.

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So usually they'll have a draw.

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It drew us out into a story and then they have a one on one later.

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love that.

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So we got, we got to draw.

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Well, you guys figure out who wins.

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How about that?

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I like it, I like it.

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See, once again, we leave the imagination to the listener.

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I love that.

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: 00:18:21

And I got one more question for you If you had to put three songs on a playlist that

represent you, Scott Rudinski, what three songs do you choose to put on that playlist that

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: 00:18:31

represent you as a person?

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don't know.

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: 00:18:33

I'd have that's a question I would have had to give a lot of thought.

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I can think of songs that motivate me and songs that I feel personally connected with,

know, bands that I've always looked up to.

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: 00:18:44

Yeah, she's I gotta pick a minor threat song.

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: 00:18:47

I'm probably gonna say betray.

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: 00:18:48

I'm gonna go with

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: 00:18:51

some kind of descendant song, possibly a Cheer Me Up or maybe Sour Grapes.

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: 00:18:56

man, I gotta pick a Black Flag song, something like Rise and Bob or something angry.

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: 00:19:03

All those are perfect choices.

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: 00:19:04

See, for me, I was partially expecting a Strung Out song.

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: 00:19:07

I don't know why, but Strung Out's one of my favorites.

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: 00:19:09

And I'm just like, man, if Scott's on the show, when I ask him this question, Strung Out

may come up on there.

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: 00:19:14

Let's throw an honorable mentions strung out song in there for you.

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: 00:19:18

How's that?

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: 00:19:22

It would have to be one of those early songs.

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: 00:19:24

really...

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Geez, pick any song off the first two records and I'm in.

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I love it.

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: 00:19:31

Love it.

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: 00:19:32

Perfect.

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: 00:19:33

Scott Radinsky.

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: 00:19:34

You've got this album coming out September 5th.

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Everyone's got to go check it out.

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: 00:19:38

Fire Sale is going to be on it.

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: 00:19:39

You guys obviously legends in the industry, split record.

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: 00:19:43

Check it out when it comes out everywhere.

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: 00:19:45

Scott, thank you so much for making the time today to chat.

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: 00:19:47

Hey man, thanks to you John, I appreciate it.