Lady Gaga used to front a classic rock band who covered U2.
The pop megastar talks about her high school band Mackin’ Pulsifer on the new episode of Youtube series Hot Ones.
After initially being shocked that host Sean Evans knew about the band, she says that she “learned so much” about performing and artistry during her time with them.
“I used to always say that you have to put music in the room to figure out how to be an artist,” she explains. “You need an audience.”
Gaga adds that she used to cover U2 with her band, and that years later she talked about it with U2 singer Bono. “It was so funny when I met Bono for the first time and I was like, ‘I used to sing Pride [(In The Name Of Love)] in my rock band growing up!’ You learn everything that came before you and you’re just a student of music.”
Gaga’s not revealed much about Mackin’ Pulsifer, but spilled some details and expressed her love for Led Zeppelin during a 2014 Reddit AMA.
“I was in a classic rock cover band at the same time I was in jazz band in high school and doing jazz state competitions,” she wrote. “We were called Mackin' Pulsifer.
“I have a real passion for Robert Plant’s vocals, Led Zeppelin was a huge inspiration for me. I’m certain that side of my musicianship will seep through the pores of music in the future.”
From covering U2 during her schooldays, Gaga has gone on to collaborate with and publicly champion several rock and metal artists. In 2017, she famously performed Metallica’s song Moth Into Flame with the San Francisco thrashers at the Grammy Awards.
In a 2011 Rolling Stone interview, the singer gushed about an Iron Maiden show she attended earlier that week.
“We were dancing and singing and everyone was just so into it,” she recalled. “Jumping and dancing… I mean, it was like absolute no judgment, no prejudice, [just] freedom and love for music. It doesn’t matter who you are; you don’t need to know anything about music to love it. Everybody was hugging me, high-fiving, fist-pumps in the air.”
Gaga will release Mayhem, her first non-soundtrack solo album since 2020’s Chromatica, on March 7 via Streamline and Interscope. The singles Disease and Abracadabra are now streaming.
