In the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains of  Southwest Virginia, there lies a Star City. Reknowned for good food, park festivals and resurging downtown, Roanoke, Virginia has produced many a pop culture icon. From Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs, to Southern Culture On the Skids, to actress Debbie Reynolds, former NBA Allstar George Lynch,  Agents of Good Roots, former pro wrestler Tony Atlas...even Vegas superstar Wayne "the main vein" Newton.

Many a talented folks who live, breathe and bleed for their craft call this place home. The Pullouts are no different.

Working class stiffs who play music during every free moment available is not uncommon in the Roanoke Valley. The Pullouts have ground their teeth in the trenches with some of the best bands you've never heard. We call them all our friends and welcome you to pursue them with much interest.

Decadent Witch, In Spite Of, Black Rain, Jib Jab and the Talkalots, Douche Newton, Affliction Kid, Spuknof, the Wading Girl, ReFried Greens, Hubbard and the Harpoon Dodgers, Heevahava, Sabotage Manual, Assisted Living Dracula, Half Moon, That Band With the Fat Kids, Curmudgeon, RockFormRadio, Triscale. . . . . check www.roanokenights.com or www.myspace.com/starcityarchives

The Pullouts formed in late 2005 as songwriter Bubba J Webster caught up with longtime friend Josh Zimmerman. Josh had just graduated from FullSail and was dying to put together a recording studio. Bubba had dabbled in home recording software for his own demos and decided they should put their knowhow together and start a label. Weapons of Mass Production was born that winter as their idea of "sidestepping the industry" began to take shape. They rehearsed and demoed about 50 songs and looked for a guitarist to fill out the band. After a couple of rehearsals with different people, Quinn Chalkley showed his versatile creativity to be a perfect slipper fit.

The 3 members rehearsed for a few months and played their first show in early spring 2006. The sparks flew as their original songs paired interestingly with covers of their favorite songs by their favorite artists. Since that fateful first show, the band has showed a 2-Pronged Attack in the fact that their originals are good enough to not be outshined by the covers. Up to fall 2008, the band had played songs by David Bowie, Queen, Wolf Parade, the Shins, Pearl Jam, Bright Eyes, Faith No More, Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies, Loverboy, the Outfield, Ween, and even one entire set of songs by the band Nirvana at one show in 2007.

The band continues to mix styles as Zimmerman has added his piano skills to the eclectic mix of raw power guitar rock and anthemic heartfelt songwriting. The homegrown mix of material they pull from for inspiration have ranged from Cartoon characters (Webster is a father), existentialism, revolution, trust, capitalism, spanglish translations of acid rock hits, the Irish pub's owner, San Diegans, the Japanese, faith, redemption, anxiety, medications, love gone right and wrong, monsters, death, rebirth, duality and rock itself.

Every song has a twist to show independence of the next. Reggae, Punk, 70's Metal, Ska, Folk, Jazz, Classical, Progressive, Pop, Beat...whatever you want to call it. The band has dabbled in it.

Now, these guys would never say they are the masters of their craft. They are just getting good results during this part of thier journeymanship. In the future, bands like this could be the post-post modern heroes. Working Class heroes who love music for the artform. Not for the paycheck.

This is the story of a how a Struggling Songwriter, a Guitarslinging Barometer of Cool, and a Half Deaf Graduate of FullSail made a band.