Meet Tallahassee’s newest reggae band: Pulsation

Pulsation is an up-and-coming Tallahassee band, and yet they’re already making their mark on the local music scene. With seven shows to date I’ve seen nothing but positive reviews from all who have seen them, and it doesn’t look like they’re slowing down. I met two of the band members, Blake Arnold and Kat Hall and we walked over to a garden area by the Nursing School, I was hoping to keep things informal and comfortable during the interview, and so I just went along with the natural flow of conversation, popping questions from time to time and taking candid pictures while they talked and laughed. Sitting with these two was definitely a fun experience, they were excited to talk about the band and incredibly passionate about their music and what they want their message to be, and seemed to share that bond of band members who have developed a great friendship through the music.

Members: Kat Hall, 18: Lead vocals, Blake Arnold, 20: Vocals and lead guitar, Logan Shewmaker, 20: Bass, Harlan Friedlander, 19: Drums. 

First things first, how did everyone meet?

Blake: I met Logan and Harlan my freshman year,we were all friends but didn’t really have a band thing going yet so we just played together.

Kat: Blake and I met through some mutual friends, we were at a house with people who were showcasing their creative outlets, I was singing and Blake was playing guitar. We talked afterwards and were like “Yo, we should start a band together!”, he was already playing with Logan and Harlan, and when I came in everything just fit.

How did you book your first gig?

Kat: We just started calling around smaller venues, we called a lot of restaurants and tiny places but we weren’t hearing anything back. Finally we talked to Sidebar, which recently came under some new management. It was a little hectic at first, but we finally played some shows, they liked our sound, and started opening for some ‘bigger’ bands. That helped us broaden our horizon and lay a solid base. Getting to know everyone led us to actually open a show in Jacksonville.

Who were you the most proud to open for?

Blake: “Stick Figure is one of my favorite bands, and in the last two years they’ve definitely reached a point of notoriety, opening for them was really awesome.”

Would you say they’re inspirational to your music?

Blake: They definitely help in inspiring us, we’re trying to go the same path they did. We take everything around us as inspiration though, we don’t try to emulate anyones sound.

If not other musicians, what is your inspiration?

Blake: Everything around me, I think the most important part of creativity is making sure that you experience something new every single day and take it in. New experiences help me grow, and the music reflects that.

Kat: I definitely agree with Blake, also nature, meeting new people, just playing our music together, and the ocean all really inspire me in different ways.

If you had to describe your sound in five words or less?

Kat: Soul reggae with a message.

Blake: Soul, funk, reggae, world, groovy.

Was is hard for the band to find a creative space together or did it just happen on its own?

Blake: Everything just came together organically, it wasn’t hard to get into at all, we all really connected the first time we plugged in. We bonded that first practice and realized we all sounded great together.

Do you play a lot of covers, or can your audience expect some originals?

Blake: We are definitely not a cover band. We have a lot of original songs that are close to us that we play at our shows.

Do you have a favorite song you’ve written?

Kat: Thats really hard to say, I don’t think I could pick one. Each one is just really special to us.

Blake: Our song ‘Gold’ really reflects and highlights each of our musician’s abilities in different ways, we all came together to add our own personality into it.

Can you pinpoint a singular event that inspired you to pursue music?

Kat: Definitely moving out and becoming my own person, I finally styled myself the way I wanted, changed my hair, and just finding out what was important to me and what kind of person I wanted to be helped. I grew up listening to reggae, my brother introduced me to it when I was younger and I grew up with my sister singing in different bands, so I always felt inspired to pursue it myself.

Blake: I always felt inspired by watching live performances, George Harrison convinced me to pick up a guitar, and other artists like Jimi, Bradley from Sublime, The Doors, and Fleetwood Mac also inspired me to pursue music. Going to my first reggae show and feeling the energy in the music and the crowd was a big moment for me. I felt everything resonate with the cells in my body and it just stuck with me after that.

Do you think you’ve already made the decision to take your band to the next step, even if its not right now?

Kat: I think we’ve definitely already decided to see where the music takes us. We have some more shows around florida and we want to go across the country playing this summer. We are definitely not in it to become famous though, our love of the band and love of music is more important than recognition.

Where did the name “Pulsation” come from?

Blake: I just love the definition of the word, it’s movement. It’s what I feel with reggae and what we want our audience to feel, we want them to move and we want that kind energy at our show. We just wanted the music to pulsate through the crowds like it does for us.

What can your crowds expect from your shows?

Blake: To feel totally new emotions and hopefully a new appreciation for reggae. We’re trying to get people who are fans of all types of music to see what the genre is about, because its definitely not the stereotypes most people associate with it.

If you could make your crowd feel one thing with your music what would you want it to be?

Both: Inspired.

Anything else you want people to know about Pulsation?

Kat: We aren’t in this for recognition, you just have to work for something greater than yourself. For me, that’s our music.

Blake: We’re just trying to display a message about what the music is about, we want people to realize its not what others say it is.

Pulsation plays its next show on May 5th, at Spy in St. Augustine, Florida. The band plans to take a short break from shows to take a trip to California this summer, they want to focus on streaming some music online and getting studio time. Before that however, they are working on finding shows across various Florida cities. When asked if they’d want to play for house parties in Tallahassee, they said “Definitely! Just reach out to us on our Facebook or Instagram, we can definitely do that.”

No matter what your music tastes are, supporting local music is always a necessity, and seeing a new band that is this passionate about their music and message is NEVER boring. Support all the local artists around you who are just trying to do what they love, trust me they appreciate it more than they can ever tell us.

Stay tuned for more news from Pulsation and be sure to check out their Facebook and Instagram