Union Pulse

By Jeanette Madden
Music Editor

One night only ... on Friday, May 27, the “best in the mid-west” is coming to J.T. Cigarro in Fargo.

A dynamic quartet, Union Pulse delivers their original blend of guitar-driven roots rock, Americana, and “alternative country” on stage with charisma and authority. Front man James Redding is a timeless storyteller with an extraordinary vision of human depth. His songs have been performed by rising artists from Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Texas, and his lead guitar style is unique and infectious.

The Reader spoke with Redding, a thoughtful and intelligent word driven man about his band, his writing and his shows. Read on to see what he had to say:

High Plains Reader: Let’s start with a little history of band:

James Redding: Basically, I went to a suburban high school and didn’t really get as involved in music as I wanted to. I was in bands but never quite as dedicated as I wanted to be. So, as soon as I hit college I was in a rush to start something that would mean something. I was putting up posters and it took me a few months to find a line-up of people but eventually once I had a drummer, a bass player and a guy who sang (I didn’t actually want to sing early on) we started practicing and recording songs I’d been writing.

Before too long, we were booking little gigs in the dorms on campus where we lived. That was around 2001, 2002. It was pretty humble, pretty meager, just playing cookouts and coffee shops. We would practice three times a week and I’d be staying up all night writing and I’d go to class the next day and work the next night. That’s how everything started. Me, forcing it to happen, even though finding musicians was really, really difficult. Finding guys that were dedicated and really wanted to work.

The only thing that’s changed is its gotten easier to target who’s going to stick with it, writing better songs where more people get excited about playing them with me and I’m also learning how to book tours so this tour is going to be exciting because it’s the first time we’ve had both newspaper and radio promotion really pushing us.

HPR: Do you think touring is where it’s at as far as becoming successful?

JR: I think with any kind of art you have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and you have to be able to be happy with what you’re doing so at the end of the day you can be satisfied with where you are. You never know what’s going to happen. I’ve had friends in bands just up and pass away. They’re going strong one day and the next day they have a heart attack or overdose or whatever. You never know when it’s going to happen where you’re going to get a record deal or just die in your sleep. A friend of a friend just got into a motor biking accident and died so touring for us is definitely where it’s at and it’s the one thing I think all good bands have in common.

HPR: Tell me about your writing process.

JR: I write alone. There’s one song on which I collaborated with somebody but otherwise I always write alone. Essentially, the band’s music is singer/songwriter material with a southern or western layer to it put to a band setting. Sometimes I joke with the boys that it’s a ‘just add water’ rock and roll band. The guys in the band, they take my songs and they change it a way that I never expected. There’re songs of ours that I hated until my boys started playing around with it and then live it has this whole different personality.

Personally, my writing process is so much about lyrics and about sitting down with where I am in my heart and my head, what I’m feeling and what I’m going through.

HPR: Do you consider yourself more of a songwriter or a musician or both?

JR: I think I consider myself more of a songwriter. It didn’t used to be that way but I have gone through many years of playing many instruments and depending on the day and the week I’ll be onstage playing with a different band playing drums or bass or keyboard. Union Pulse is definitely my primary and sometimes my only, which means that I’m up there singing and playing lead but when it comes down to it, if I could only do one thing in my whole life it would be writing songs.

HPR: Are you pursuing that? Writing for other people or letting them perform your songs?

JR: It’s funny that you say that because I just wrote this song that it probably won’t make it onto a Union Pulse album if ever, it will be at least three years, it’s so different. It’s the type of song that Keith Urban would sing and we’re kind of more Old 97s, fun but dirty country, so I’ve been thinking about maybe start talking about licensing or seeing if someone is interested in picking up our stuff. The couple times that I’ve heard someone else doing our stuff it’s a combination of humbling and inspiring because this isn’t just something that I can play, this is also its own entity. I’ve created it and now it’s out there in the world. Anyone can see it, anyone can touch it, anyone can taste it.

HPR: Tell me about your live shows.

JR: We have a lot of fun. Lately there have been a number of inside jokes. We got a new drummer recently and these guys, offstage they’ll hang out 24/7 and they have so much offstage that onstage you can see that they love each other. They’ll change the lyrics of my songs around to make a joke here or there and then singing it I can see one of them mouthing it to the other one and the other one is cracking up. It’s like a challenge for me to stay focused on singing. It’s so fun to be with guys that I can count on.

Click here to listen to ‘Last Thing I See’ by Union Pulse: http://
http://www.unionpulseonline.com/mp3s/4/10.mp3

IF YOU GO:
What: Union Pulse
Where: J.T. Cigarro
When: Friday, May 27 at 9 p.m.
Cost: $5
Website: http://www.unionpulseonline.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/unionpulse

(cost and time will be added soon)

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