Union Pulse: An Interview with Singer/Songwriter James Tristan Redding

Who are Union Pulses Band Members?
James Tristan Redding - vocals and guitar, 24 years old
Brian Henry Eckert - bass guitar and vocals, 25 years old
Jed Tyrone Hanson - drumset and vocals, 23 years old

How did Union Pulse Begin?
James - "As a freshman in college, majoring in Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I needed to make music. I needed to find other people with whom I could record and perform, and I needed to push as hard as I could to make artistic progress in spite of the inevitable setbacks which ended up destroying the bands I had in high school (and for that matter, many bands, young or old).

I actually wasn't the band's first singer, thought I've written every note and every word of the band's material. I met my drummer through a mutual friend in the college dorms, my best friend was willing to take the heat for me and be the band's frontman and singer, and for lack of finding any other musicians with half a brain, another good friend of mine learned to play bass in order to join the band.

The material is a composite of some things I wrote in high school, a lot of what I wrote in college, and everything I've written since then. Since those first days practicing between basements and dorm rooms, I've seen a handful of bassists, and a real assortment of drummers, join and then quit the band -- whether it was as brief as a single performance, or as developed as the recording of an entire album and its subsequent tour.

The names of those musicians do not matter, but it is with great pleasure that I introduce my two best friends -- Jed Hanson and Brian Eckert, my drummer and bassist. Hanson and Eckert have each been with me for longer than any other musician, with the exception of Randy Franzen, the band's first drummer and cofounder. They are now the heart and soul of Union Pulse, and any energy I find within myself, these days, is accessed directly through them."