Massachusetts chiptune and electronic music producer unveils entirely pizza-themed new album on Friday, May 15 – National Pizza Party Day
We may not all remember when we had our first slice of pizza, but Sam Mulligan certainly remembers when he wrote his first song about pizza. The Western Massachusetts-based chiptune artist, multi-instrumentalist, and Battlemode guitarist had signed up for a songwriting challenge a few years ago, and needed some lyrics to doll up an instrumental he was feeling. So he reflected on a recent tragedy – scoring a tasty slice of pizza after a concert, only to drop it face-down on the sidewalk before taking that sweet first bite.
His first pizza banger was fresh out of the oven. And from there, Mulligan’s appetite for pizza-themed songs only grew stronger, working their way into his live set, taking over his creative headspace, and even appearing as secret tracks in the prolific artist’s catalogue.
Now Mulligan’s savory vision is fully cooked and ready for consumption, as he presents Pizza Forever, a delectable and entirely pizza-themed album set for release on digital and CD on Friday, May 15 – a day celebrated across the country as National Pizza Party Day.
The flavorful record, a DIY pizza-core affair featuring eight songs, one for each slice of the pie (plus appetizing intro), is a whirlwind of chiptune bleeps and bloops, grungy indie rock guitars, and punk rock energy, with Mulligan’s clever wordplay and passion for video game music (VGM) acting as the perfect topping for this wacky project. The deluxe CD version arrives in a handmade mini-pizza-box packaging, golden interior, and a six-panel accordion-fold lyric and art booklet (more on that down below).
On the day of the May 15 album release, Mulligan hosts a Pizza Forever block party and “pizza crawl” around Turners Falls, with a listening party at Two Ghosts Vinyl Café; a pizza dinner nearby at The Upper Bend Cafe, and then a live show at DIY space/community resource center The Brick House with Boring Man, and The Rocking Puppies.
“While I don’t see these pizza songs as being about pizza,” Mulligan reasons with a wry smile, “they all relate to pizza in some way. A recurring theme with a lot of my ‘pizza songs’ is trying to squeeze in a fair amount of pizza puns and wordplay, but also trying to not get too cheesy with it.”
Pizza Forever takes the particular brand of lyrical, comedic, chiptune-rock music that he’s been performing live since 2012 – while also playing in bands like Electric Street Queens, the aforementioned Boston electro-pop heroes Battlemode, and his Compost Shark collaboration with Dave Richardson – and adds some extra stylistic toppings to the sound.
Mulligan utilized an even split of his Nintendo Game Boy and a Dirtywave M8 tracker as the primary musical background for all of the tracks, with extra accoutrements to build out a sound that’s somehow both minimalist and maximalist all at once. The songs were mastered by Stemage (Metroid Metal, Super Strikers, Rebecca Sugar), the influential VGM producer whose guitar acumen and overall mixing advice helped develop the album’s collaborative sound.
“The easiest part of putting this album together was coming up with ideas,” Mulligan admits. “Once I had the concept of ‘pizza album’, a lot of it came together naturally. Of course the compact disc is going to have to look like a pizza, and of course it’s going to come in a pizza box — things like that just have to happen without much internal debate. The hardest part was knowing when to stop… much like eating pizza, actually.”
A Pizza Forever appetizer arrived in April via “Broke,” a dizzying torrent of chiptune, nerd-core, and pop-punk riffs, with a musical background fueled by his Nintendo Game Boy music sequencer, Little Sound DJ. It finds our dude flat-out skint from his pizza habit, and it sets an animated tone for this playful, wacky, and damn delicious album.
‘“Broke’ is about spending too much money on pizza, and then lamenting about being strapped for cash,” Mulligan says. “It ventures into fantastical and extreme consequences of this, but ultimately it all ends well because you’ve still got pizza after all! We’re tackling big themes here – financial responsibility, inflation, dreams of a better future, consequences, and living with regret. It’s only partially based on real-life events. I’m doing okay, I promise.”
Actually, Mulligan’s doing great. He debuted Pizza Forever in March live at the second-annual Boston Bitdown music festival, bringing these saucy tunes to the Crystal Ballroom stage. He received a lively response from the crowd for “Broke,” who eagerly joined in during the chorus, with fans shouting “He’s broke” back at him as he performed in an oversized pizza slice costume as glitchy computer graphics flashed on the giant screen behind him, controlled live by NYC-based visualist Claire Kwong.
It was a total vibe.
“‘Broke’ is fun, high energy, and it’s been a highlight of my show since I started playing it live,” Mulligan admits. “I love getting the crowd participating, and the call-and-response chorus is an easy way to get that started! But I also think ‘Broke’ really captures the essence of a ‘pizza song’. I’ve been telling people that a ‘pizza song’ isn’t necessarily a song about pizza, but it’s a song about life viewed through a pizza lens. However, pizza is notably NOT transparent, so make of that what you will.”
As the album is delivered, focus track “UR NOT INVITED (to my pizza party)” adds some extra flavor, especially leading up to National Pizza Party Day. Under a street-walking groove and electro-rock intensity, where the sound even creeps on nu-metal territory, Mulligan exercises his clever lyricisms and internal rhymes, fueling its energy and action. A DIY video brings the bite to the screen.
“At first, this seems like it’s your typical story about throwing a pizza party and not inviting someone to said party,” Mulligan says of the track. “It goes into some of the details of why this individual deserves to be excluded, and how it’s turning into such a wild party. However, later in the song it’s revealed that the protagonist is actually the one that is not invited to the pizza party. What a twist!”
Those types of twists and surprises run rampant throughout Pizza Forever, as a kaleidoscopic spectrum of beats n’ treats provide the backdrop to wholly-relatable themes like having the freedom to eat pizza everyday (“Pizza Every Day”); the financial repercussions of making that decision to eat pizza every day (“Broke”); finding the patience to know when the time is right to order that pizza (“Waiting For The Delivery Guy”); experiencing life without pizza (“I Don’t Mean To Be Dramatic But…”); the highs of discovering a pizza box only to feel the lows of finding it empty (“MT BXZ”); and even a love song about saving the last slice for your special someone (“The Last Slice”).
“Growing up listening to a lot of indie rock and garage bands cemented my love for grungy guitars, and they are all over ‘MT BXZ’ I was going for a dramatic, epic end to the album, and I think it captures the feeling that you experience when you go from being excited about scoring a sweet slice to the crushed hopes when you discover the box is completely empty,” he adds. “And I think people will be surprised by the tenderness of ‘I Don’t Mean To Be Dramatic But….’ The violins and overall sparseness of that one make it stand out from the rest, and it’s very different from most of my other songs.”
Mulligan cites the wall-of-sound, layered melodies and big guitars, echoes, and Game Boy noodling of “MT BXZ” (pro tip: say it out loud), as one of his favorite parts of the album, and he credits the mixing work of Hamstanky of Stank Factory Recordings in making the sound pop in cohesive color. He also shouts out the “waiting and waiting” part of “Waiting For The Delivery Guy”: “It’s super fun to sing at shows because I have so much fun with it and I feel crazy and I love observing people’s reactions,” he says with a laugh. “They’re kind of like, ‘How long is he gonna do this? Is he… okay?’”
And since pizza is best experienced with others, the collaborations on the album helped bring it all together, like how the cheese and sauce feel like they were meant to be together, blissfully intertwined over some baked bread.
“I wouldn’t have finished this album without Amy Chilton!” Mulligan says of his life partner, who contributes lead vocals on “The Last Slice” and backing vocals elsewhere. “She is a constant source of motivation and inspiration, and she was on board any time I asked for her help with singing, lyrics advice, or feedback on a mix. ‘The Last Slice’ was a waltz-y, sad song in its original demo and a total downer. Amy suggested rewriting it as a pop song, which I think was genius and really changed the vibe of the end of the album. She was great at keeping me true to my vision. My pal David Jubinsky from Battlemode was also super helpful, and his violin playing helped bring ‘I Don’t Mean To Be Dramatic But…’ to a whole new level.”
And speaking of a whole new level, the Pizza Forever packaging is just cool as hell.
“The packaging for the album is what it was meant to be – a little pizza box that fits a compact disc full of pizza songs perfectly,” he notes. “It just makes sense! The album cover art is handstamped red archival ink on a white miniature pizza box. I made the stamp myself after designing the little pizza-shaped rocketship and title and carving it into a piece of ez-carve rubber. Then I secured it to a piece of plywood with some double-sided foam tape, and added a cabinet handle for ease of use. I designed it to kind of look like a classic pizza box, but it’s totally DIY so it’s rough around the edges for sure.”
Of course, the best part of getting a pizza (next to eating it, duh), is the rush of excitement that comes with opening the box to see the tasty pie that awaits, and Pizza Forever packs that same feeling of joy.
“When you open it up and before you uncover the compact disc that looks like a delicious pizza (and it was delicious, I know because I ate it), you see the golden interior, which is almost glowing, and then the booklet,” he adds. “The art I made for each song, along with accompanying lyrics, is presented in a six-panel accordion fold booklet. I wanted to make art for each song because they all felt different and special to me.”
In an age of streaming, having a physical product that captured the joy of pizza was just as essential as the songs themselves. And for Mulligan, Pizza Forever is a throwback record where listeners can hold it, touch it, and feel it – after all, eating pizza is a physical act.
“Being able to hold the album in your hands, listening to it loud while flipping through the booklet and reading the lyrics, looking at the pictures of the band, and reading through the ‘thank yous’ and album credits helps connect with the album in a really special way,” he says. “I put a lot of thought and effort into making sure that someone could have a similar experience with Pizza Forever because that’s how I connected with some of my favorite albums and bands!”
Mulligan knows the world is crazy right now. People are stressed, distracted, and occupied with some serious real-life issues. But the chiptune artist and pizza savant just wants this album to be something that folks enjoy, either by themselves or with those they love. Maybe it soundtracks a pizza party, maybe it helps them forget the sadness in the world for 28 flavorful, boisterous, pizza-themed minutes. And maybe it inspires more pizza songs, and a new genre – pizza-core?!?! – will be something shared and shaped by all.
“My hope is that when someone listens to this album it’s got them grinning and laughing, dancing and singing along, and that the songs get stuck in their head,” he concludes. “I’d love for Pizza Forever to be an album that people want to share with their friends who appreciate unique, weird music, and maybe write some weird songs of their own. You can write songs about anything!”
Even pizza. But in the case of Sam Mulligan, especially pizza.
Connect with Sam Mulligan:
HOMEPAGE . MULTI . PATREON . APPLE . BANDCAMP . YOUTUBE . TWITCH . INSTAGRAM . TIKTOK
Sam Mulligan short bio:
Silly lyrics, grungy guitars, and high energy Game Boy beats are what Sam Mulligan is all about. With an emphasis on equal parts positivity and absurdity, Sam’s goal is to make you smile, but hey, it’s your face and you should do what you want with it.
Based in Western Massachusetts, Sam is putting the finishing touches on his album of pizza songs (Pizza Forever, out May 15 for National Pizza Party Day), booking shows, and creating new video content in 2026. He has been playing his particular brand of lyrical, comedic, chiptune-rock music live since May 2012 and has been writing and performing weird music since 1998.
Sam has played over 100 shows since 2012, in cities from Atlanta, Georgia to Madison, Wisconsin, and performs regularly all over New England. He also has played in the bands My Kids Are Jerks, The Oh! My Gods, sleazy punk band Electric Street Queens, and currently in electro-pop trio Battlemode, and in Compost Shark, with longtime collaborator Dave Richardson.
