Led by brother-sister duo Lulu and John Demitro, Denver-based desert-psych rock trio Pink Fuzz makes music that many people need right now. Loud and mean and enigmatic yet deeply vulnerable, it’s the kind of music a person holds on to for dear life as the world crumbles around them, an anchor, a lifeline. As a result, the very knowledge that music such as Pink Fuzz’s exists becomes a source of strength, the strength to live life true to yourself, to keep fighting when the world feels too big, the strength to hope and to grow. Many of us need that strength these days, to be reminded that even though the world is on fire, we can still find ourselves within the flames. Pink Fuzz can protect us while we look.
Pink Fuzz will be offering sanctuary this weekend with two very special shows coming this weekend, one at The Skylark Lounge on 11/15 and one at Hi-Dive on 11/16. 303 Magazine recently spoke with Lulu and John Demitro about the shows, growing up with music, their new singles, recording an album with their heroes and much more.
READ: Review — Pink Fuzz Nearly Burns Down the Bluebird Theater on a Frigid Saturday Night
Music has long been a defining factor in the Demitro siblings’ lives. They said “there was always music in the house growing up” and that they had both been “dragged” to classical piano lessons starting around when they were 3. As they grew older, they stopped having to be forced to their lessons, instead coming to love them. This early exposure to music and the creation of it led to both Demitro siblings cultivating similar yet divergent musical ideations. Lulu was “planning to be a classical pianist,” saying it was [her] dream when [she] was younger.” John, however, had other plans and began playing in rock bands when he was a “young, young teenager.” John, seeing their collective talent, eventually became convinced that the two needed to start a band on their own, slowly talking Lulu into playing more and more rock music. He eventually told his sister verbatim, “‘We need to start a band together,'” and when they “were around 15 or 16,” Lulu came around.
John recalled an instance when they first knew playing music together felt right. They were attempting to cover “Kashmere” by Led Zeppelin in this newfound band, a notoriously difficult song to play at any age. Initially attempting to play it with only guitar and bass, Lulu would then hop on the synth to fill the song out. This convinced John that they could and should start writing music of their own, and the initial steps towards what would eventually become Pink Fuzz as it’s known today were taken.
Siblings sharing stages playing rock and roll don’t always have the greatest track records when it comes to getting along. However, Lulu and John seem to have transcended this trend, saying that as they’ve grown older, they’ve found ways to communicate their feelings and ideas efficiently and effectively. They attributed this to a few things, the first being their literal closeness to each other growing up. Lulu said, “When we were still living together, we were around each other all the time. So we had access to each other as far as ‘we’re not doing anything tonight’ and ‘we’re not doing right now. Let’s play, or practice or try to write a song or something.'” This allowed them to cultivate and nurture each other’s writing styles and learn how to work together cohesively.
They also attributed their ability to work together so well to the sheer amount of time they’ve been playing together, technically since they were three. The siblings first went on tour with a band when they were eighteen, nearly twelve years ago now. In that time, they’ve seen a lot of beautiful and terrible things in the industry, triumph entwined with heartbreak, and have seen each other through it all while learning how to create together at the same time.
Inevitably, the siblings’ approach to writing songs has changed over the years. When they were still living in the same space, they were writing almost everything together, every song a collaboration. Now, each song is still collaborative but the approach is much different. They believe a big part of this is the simple fact that they no longer live together. Both of them now write songs on their own, in their individual voices, then bring their ideas together and combine them until both are happy with the result.
After many years playing with many iterations of many groups, Lulu and John found themselves in Boulder during a time when that town’s music scene was comprised mostly of jam bands and DJs. The siblings eventually found a community within a sort of more commercialized form of “stomp-clap” blues-rock that was really popular around then. They said that a lot of people in that community “were really cool to [them]” and accepted them. However, the siblings themselves were struggling to find their musical identity. They wanted to work within this community that had welcomed them but also expressed feeling attracted to “all this other random, darker stuff” that others weren’t really delving into. It created a sort of fundamental insecurity where they were “unsure of how our voices should sound” and “didn’t know what gear we wanted.” Lulu summed it up, saying, “We were in our early 20’s and we were lost.”
Nevertheless, during this period, they “were writing really good songs” that would serve as the basis for Pink Fuzz finally finding themselves and their sound. In 2017, they released a single titled “Enough” that featured two songs, the eponymous track and “Tear You Down.” John said that when they were recording these songs, “something clicked,” and they knew that they had finally found what they were looking for. Not long after, the Demitro siblings — joined by drummer and childhood friend Forrest Raup — released their debut album, Speed Demon. The album served to solidify Pink Fuzz as one of Denver’s coolest and most interesting bands, and that reputation has only grown over the years.
The reason for this ever-rising reputation is simple: the music is fucking incredible. It must have been a long and hard process but it’s almost a good thing the band took so long cultivating their identity because they are now one of the most unique voices in the Denver music scene. Their music wraps itself around you and keeps you warm when the world gets cold. It’s angry, fast, and intricate, but it lights a fire somewhere deep within those who hear it, teaching them to stand in defiance against a world that is trying to extinguish them.
It also bears mentioning that John attributes their success to Lulu being able to provide a female voice to heavy music, which has slowly become more prevalent, but there’s still a long way to go. Lulu elaborated on how this change has made her personally feel better within the space, saying “We’re seeing more women and non-binary people in rock and it feels better to me.”
Pink Fuzz has continued to build and grow and evolve with much of their latest music reflecting this theme, this idea of evolution as an act of defiance. In the past year or so, Pink Fuzz has released five new singles ahead of their next album, which should be dropping early next year. Recorded at 5 Street Studios in Austin, Texas, the new music is not only emblematic of where the band finds themselves and wants to be going but was also an opportunity for them to work with legends that served as early influences. The album was produced by Black Pistol Fire frontman Kevin McKeown and mixed by Alain Johannes of Queens of the Stone Age, Eleven, PJ Harvey and many more.
The singles — “Cycles,” “Decline,” “Trigger,” “Long Gone” and “Ain’t No Friend” — each seem to deal with an idea of evolution, breaking a cycle or tradition and looking to what comes next. The Demitro’s attributed this to many of the songs being written during COVID but also to a desire for constant evolution. In this sense, the music hits on many different levels. On the one hand, there is the specific frustration inherent to the pandemic, but then there is also the constant fear of stagnation that pervades much of everyday life. Humans need to grow, they need to change, they need to improve on what’s come before because there is nothing worse than getting stuck in a cycle of monotony, time itself becoming a physical thing weighing you down. Pink Fuzz’s music can show us how to break free so that we may grow to make ourselves better that we may better the world.
In addition to their recordings being something special, Pink Fuzz are also truly powerful performers, each member with their own strength. John approaches the shows with a true rock and roll energy, waving his guitar out over the crowd as he solos and jumping off of amps when a song drops. Lulu’s a bit more laconic, hanging back a bit more as she rolls on the bass with this casual sense of confidence. Forrest Raup absolutely shreds the drums and provides necessary propulsion to the proceedings. They all combine together into this cohesive unit that threatens to burn down nearly every stage they touch.
Pink Fuzz will bring this energy to The Skylark and Hi-Dive this weekend for two special shows the Demitro siblings have described as their “South Broadway Takeover.” They’ll be bringing friends along with them that they’ve met in their many years of touring, busting out a few surprise covers (a very rare occurrence for Pink Fuzz), and just generally tearing that part of town apart. These aren’t shows you’ll want to miss, and tickets are moving, so get on it.
Pink Fuzz makes the world better by existing. They show their listeners that they don’t have to be defined by what’s come before, by the place in the world they find themselves. There is always a chance to evolve. There is comfort in this knowledge, comfort needed by so many in this burning world. Pink Fuzz has allowed Denver to hold on to them when it needs to and it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world reaches for them, too.
Get tickets to the Skylark show on 11/15 here and the Hi-Dive show on 11/16 here!