What are your names?
So we are Connor (vocals, guitar), Aaron (lead guitar), Sam (bass) and Jack (drums).
What is the band’s name?
The Pretty Visitors
What is your genre of music?
I think primarily we’d describe it as indie rock, but our varied influences really do have an effect on the writing process and keep it really fresh. There’s punk, blues, folk, hip-hop and psychedelic undertones in different songs – so in that sense I think it’s quite universal too.
Give us a little bio about you.
We formed in 2019 on the south coast of the UK, and kicked off with immediate success, receiving features on BBC Introducing and headlining huge shows at The Wedgewood Rooms (Portsmouth), The Joiners (Southampton) and Heartbreakers (Southampton), amongst notable support slots with artists such as Circa Waves, Jaws, The Family Rain, Sisteray and Cassia. In 2020 we headlined at Ice Breaker Festival (Portsmouth), and played a live set on BBC Radio Kent as well as a self curated live session filmed in a church, all in January. February saw the release of the highly acclaimed, debut studio single Mystery Woman; receiving airtime on The Chris Moyles Show (Radio X), This Morning (ITV 1) and BBC Introducing… then the pandemic struck!
Why did you choose a career in music?
It isn’t something we all really consciously chose, it was just something we felt we needed to do. We’ve all been musical growing up and when we found each other in college and got in a room together, there was nothing else we wanted to do except write songs and play them to people.
Who are your influences?
We all have really varied tastes, but there are some artists we all have a mutual love for. All of us love Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes and The Rolling Stones, so I guess that’s the four cornerstones to our collective tastes but then individually those wouldn’t even make it into our top five artists, so it’s quite interesting in the way it all comes out in our tunes.
Are you signed ?
Unfortunately not!
Your new single ‘Western Skies’ is set to be released, tell us more about the single.
This song came from a place of frustration and helplessness in the small towns where we live. I had an uneventful day and felt like I was walking around in something like ‘The Village Green Preservation Society’ and felt the need to write about small town life along with being late twenties and not knowing what I wanted to do or where I wanted to be. As with everyone’s place they grew up in, it’s a love/hate relationship, and I think this song articulates that, along with nuanced details that you can only notice about a place that you have so many memories attached to. Musically, everything just fell into place perfectly and
effortlessly, which is always a good sign when we’re writing a song. We also recorded in a different place in London too, and this time more of our live playing was a part of the recording, which gives it a unique and massive sound that isn’t quite as present on our other songs.
Describe the track in two words.
Suburban mundanity.
Will we see an EP or Album from The Pretty Visitors, and if so, what can we expect from it?
I think after this next single an EP is definitely in the works. With that, I think listeners will get more of a chance to come on a musical journey with us and experience our sound a bit more. Thematically in the lyrics, I think there will be a sense of small town life, resistance to conformity, escapism and of course love.
What else can we expect in early 2021?
I think you can expect a new music video to accompany ‘Western Skies’, perhaps a couple of livestream gigs and a semi-regular podcast that discusses aspects of our band life – purely because lockdown has left us extremely bored!
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
I mean we don’t want to sound like a bunch of mugs but we have the self-belief to say we’d be 2 or 3 albums in and playing in venues across the world!
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
‘Be yourself; everyone else is already taken’ – Oscar Wilde. Just a classic.
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
- The Music!
- The atmosphere as the lights go out and the walk on music comes on
- Chat between songs by the artist
- Needing a piss
- The overheard snippets of conversation on the way out after
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
We’ve got it all! You can follow us and stream our music through this link:
https://linktr.ee/TPVMUSIC
