At The Couch Sessions, a month or two back, I posted about an up and coming band called El Pus. After listening to their album Hoodlum Rock: Vol. 1 non-stop for about five weeks, I decided to try and get in touch with them for an interview. If you get a chance, check these guys out. Their fun and upbeat music will brighten your day and bring a smile to your face. Cufi and Cosmo, the lead vocals, guitars and the essential starters of the band, were more than happy to oblige my request.
How did y'all get into music?
Cufi: I think that everyone in this band has been into music almost their whole lives...we all either had solo aspirations, or were in other bands and groups before we came together as El Pus. Cosmo and I have been in groups together for almost 10 years, everything from hip hop to playing bass and guitar in punk bands, we just fused it all to create El Pus. Woodchuck had a record out before as a solo rap artist before he started playing bass. CJ has been writing music and playing guitar since he was a kid, and Young Pete has been playing drums almost his whole life, so I don't think any of us have ever not been into music.
Cosmo: I got into music out of my love for music. At an early age coming into the knowledge of music and growing an appreciation for music, I wanted a vehicle to buy as much music as I could.
The backstory to how El Pus became a rock band is really great. How did you come together in the first place?
Cufi: Basically the first El Pus album was just me and Cosmo (it's out in Japan on EMI, but never came out in the US), and we had just been doing music and stuff for years. Cosmo and I used to rap together and make beats, then basically, when our sampler got stolen, it forced us to find a new direction. Since we both played guitar and bass a little, we decided to add a drummer and make it a 3 piece band....we'd just play riffs and then rap over it. That really ended up being an exciting direction, so we stuck with it. Later on, we added CJ, Pete, and Chuck because we were having a hard time playing AND rapping and still having an interesting live stage show. Once we added the fellas, it just became a machine...that's where we are now... a 5 piece band, and now me and Cosmo have the freedom of either JUST being vocalists, or playing our instruments, it's the best of everything, and the guys are such better musicians than us, it just makes everything come together nicely and takes the music to the next level.
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