Denver-based psych-rock band Pink Fuzz’s music rips the goddamn soul out of your chest and shows it to you, forcing you to confront the very essence of your being. It burrows its way into that newly empty cavity and makes its home there, living within you like a young fire threatening to grow to engulf all of existence. From there, it whispers to you when life grows cold and you don’t feel brave, allowing you to draw on it, to wrap it around yourself like glorious armor shining in the sun. The music is angry and heavy and dirty yet it feels like hope and courage, the stuff that keeps a person fighting forward, that keeps a person safe and warm. This feeling pervades their new single, “Decline,” the first piece of new material the band’s released in two years and a more somber tune that aims to give a voice to the powerless.
303 Magazine recently spoke with Lulu Demitro, Pink Fuzz’s bass player and co-lead singer, ahead of the single’s November 23rd release when it will be played on The Colorado Sound 105.5 at noon before being released on all streaming platforms the following day. She spoke about the single, the band’s origins, the rampant misogyny found within the music industry, attempting to reclaim power following trauma and more.
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303 Magazine: To start, I’m really interested in y’all’s origins. How did Pink Fuzz come to be?
Lulu Demitro: Pink Fuzz started in 2017 but we’ve been playing music together for longer than that. John (Demitro, Pink Fuzz’s guitarist and co-lead singer) and I are brother and sister. When we were about 15 or 16, John convinced me we should play in a band together. We had known our drummer Forrest Raup all through grade school and John had known him through other music projects and we started our first band together. We’ve been through a few different iterations and lineups since then but Pink Fuzz came together after wanting to really dial in our sound as a 3-piece and focus on songwriting and touring.
303: Your music has a really enigmatic vibe. It’s heavy and down and dirty with genuine moments of beauty mixed in and it just feels so cool. What’s the songwriting process like? Is it usually one person taking the lead or is it more collaborative?
LD: Our songwriting process has been so fulfilling lately, especially in Pink Fuzz’s newest music that’s coming out in the near future. John or I usually start with a seed of an idea, like a riff or melody and then it’s very collaborative from there. We play through things in different ways and try to record things so we can marinate in them and change if need be. I think we’ve all grown to be more flexible in our creative process which makes it really fun and exciting.
303: To follow up on the previous question, how do you create the band’s tone?
LD: It’s something that has taken us since we were teens to find. I think the tone of this band has always been what we love to hear from other artists. Fuzzy, heavy, melodic, sometimes chaotic music. During the pandemic, John and I were both writing and practicing as a band so much that our music really found itself. It all just kind of settled in.
303: So, “Decline” is the first single y’all have released in two years. How has the band evolved in that time? Are there any big lessons that you’ve learned?
LD: The band has evolved so much since then! Really, since we came back from the pandemic it feels like we’ve been firing on all cylinders. Our first show back was at UMS (Underground Music Showcase) in 2021 and it was the debut of an almost entirely new set for us. We’ve continued to write in that vein and it’s been feeling good. Crowds have really been reacting to the new music and we’re so excited to be able to finally release some of it.
I think a lesson Pink Fuzz has learned lately is that things always take more time than you think. But you need to be ready to jump at the opportunities as they come. It’s a mix of being patient and also prepared.
303: The single’s incredible. It’s heavy and angry yet feels somber and accessible, with themes that are universal yet feel highly personal as well. How did the single come to be?
LD: I wrote this song during the pandemic when we were still isolating on an acoustic guitar. It was very stripped down from what it is now but I sent that to John and he came up with that super mean first riff you hear. It came together really slowly at first. Getting the right feel for the song took us a while. We had a few different versions with these crazy endings with different feels and with a focus on different parts of the song. We actually had to let this one rest for maybe a year. We had worked it really hard and it just didn’t feel right yet. Over the summer, I had been listening to those different versions and it finally clicked for me. At our next practice, we played through the song and we all knew we had finally cracked it open.
303: You mentioned the song is informed by your experiences navigating the music industry as a woman. Could you elaborate on that a little?
LD: I was going through such a hard time when I wrote this. I was dealing with a lot of anxiety and depression stemming from being sexually assaulted multiple times, unfortunately, by people in our music scene. I started playing in bands when I was so young and most of the people around me were 8-10 years older than I was. Looking back on that, it was a powerless position to be in. When it was happening I started to tell other people in bands, venue owners, talent buyers, etc, and was met with constant excuses for the abusers.
After my experiences had been minimized by so many people, I felt very isolated. The lyric “cry, sigh, smiles all around” is pretty much a list of how I’ve been able to move through the world. It turns from sadness to anger toward the end of the song. Every time I hear it it hits something that is really tender and vulnerable in me. It helps me feel like I do have power again.
In music, I’m constantly surrounded by men who talk down to me, who minimize me and my ability, and sound guys who won’t speak to me because they assume I’m not in the band or that I don’t know what I’m doing. I know it’s not breaking news that the music industry holds a lot of misogyny, abuse and abuse of power but I’m finally in a place where I am not afraid to speak up for myself or my experiences, the same experiences unsurprisingly felt by most women in music.
To end on a happier note, I feel and have always felt so supported by my bandmates and the people that are surrounding me now. I feel inspired by how many women are coming into music and creating safer spaces for everyone.
303: Finally, is there anything else on Pink Fuzz’s horizon that you’d like to plug or anyone you’d like to give a shout-out to?
LD: Pink Fuzz is gearing up to play our biggest headlining show yet at the Bluebird Theater on January 13th with Ritmo Cascabel and Horse Bitch celebrating the release of this single and one more that is coming in January! We’ve got plenty of tour dates that are starting to be announced and we can’t wait to get back out on the road and see everyone. Special shout out to [our drummer] Forrest Raup who recorded this single plus the one that is coming out in January. We’ve got some huge announcements coming in the spring so keep an eye out!