1. Growing Up
My earliest memory of music is the jazz piano my dad used to play in our lounge room. Mum had Disraeli Gears on vinyl and I listened to that all the time and knew how all the solos went, even before I played guitar. It’s a weird mix but I guess it taught me the things I like; interesting chords, melancholy and free-spirited jamming.
2. Inspirations
I got into synths, shoegaze and also film music. All those influences were there when we started Pretty City and they’ve grown into the sound of the band. I think the strength of Pretty City is the way each of us brings a unique set of influences to the table, and expresses those influences with absolute freedom.
3. Your Band
Pretty City has existed for a year and this band is really simple; ambient rock, psych and shoegaze soup. Drew is a pretty rad prog-rock style drummer and that gives everything a really lush, expansive feel. We are friends and we’ve all had other projects which have crossed paths. Being a three-piece means we can all interact and improvise a little. We are fairly vague with the structures when we play live and focus more on ambience, swells and rhythms.
4. The Music You Make
Our first two releases, ‘Part Of Your Crowd’ and ‘Ignoring My Friends’, were actually the iPhone demos that brought the band together in the first place. We thought they were an honest and punchy reflection of the band so we put them out. Our debut EP, Heights, takes the lo-fi aesthetic of our early releases and makes the jump to lightspeed. It was recorded with Jez Giddings (Kingswood, King of the North) at Melbourne’s Hothouse Audio, and the result is a vast, cinematic sounding rock record with explosive jams and ethereal vocals. The lead single ‘Falling In And Out Of Love’ throws a nod to our shoegazing forefathers, and has a bit of a Madchester lope to it a la The Stone Roses.
5. Music, Right Here, Right Now
We’ve been to Sydney a bunch of times and have felt totally accepted by the awesome scene here from the beginning. Our first show at MUM was loose and sweaty; a real party vibe and we loved it. We played at FBi with The Carraways previously and had a rad night in one of the best band rooms in Sydney. Last time round we hit up Brighton Up Bar and Oxford Art Factory with High-Tails and Harriet Whiskey Club, all such nice dudes and truly rocking bands. Johnny discovered a place called Mr Crackles that will sell him roast meats and crackling at 2am. Generally speaking, the only thing better than the music scene in Sydney is the late night junk food scene. Who knows what greasy, Moorish delight we will stumble across after our EP launch at FBi Social on November 15? If anyone has a place in mind they should totally come to the gig and join us for a late night feast to celebrate.
Pretty City play FBi Social with The Ivory Drips, Hoy and The Carraways on Friday November 15.
