Getting Entertained with Pretty Vicious

Merthyr rockers, Pretty Vicious have been a band for four years now. After one year, they found themselves in a prominent spot on the Glastonbury stage. In year two, they’d tour with Noel Gallagher and Stereophonics. Thanks in-part to their raw, straightforward and catchy tunes, laced with authenticity, they would soon find themselves signed to Big Machine / John Varvatos records.

Now in year four, Pretty Vicious find themselves on the heels of a great new record, Are You Entertained? — their first official release on Big Machine. With the title track just released on October 26th, we had the chance to catch up with Brad Griffiths — who takes us inside the band’s momentous journey.

How would you describe the band’s journey to this point? To the release of Are You Entertained?

I think that there have been some ups and downs, but way more ups, that have contributed to how we are now! It’s obviously been an amazing journey and I wouldn’t change anything about how everything has worked out.

Pretty Vicious demonstrate a lot of hometown pride in regards to being from Wales, which is great, how does your Wales environment inspire the band?

Wales and Merthyr have a massive part in our music! You can only write about what you’ve experienced in your life, so a lot of our lyrics are about things that have happened to us back home.

Your Glastonbury performance seems to be a pivotal moment in the band’s success. What do you recall about that performance and being contacted by Julian Raymond?

That was our 10th gig we had ever done, so it was surreal headlining a Glastonbury stage at our age and at such an early time in the band’s history.

In “Move” there is a very prominent line towards the end where you say “The music is my one release”. What can you say about that lyric, where it came from and what it means to the record?

That lyric to me kind of means that our music is a way of getting out all our emotions and how we are feeling. Also, being from a small town, music is kind of a way of not being stuck there all our lives.

What have been some of the biggest obstacles the band has overcome? And how did you do it?

Finding someone who gets our sound in the studio. We have finally solved this with Dan Austin, who’s an amazing producer who we all love recording with. He’s basically a fifth member of the band.

With the new record out can you reflect on what this moment means to you personally and Pretty Vicious?

It was great to be able to go and record the way we think the songs should have been done, as well as working with a like-minded producer like Dan, who was brilliant! It’s all finished, the tracks sound incredible, which is now leading up to the release of the album next year. We are all incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved on this album which we have been building for the past four years and just can’t wait for everyone to finally hear it.

For more information including tour dates visit PrettyViciousBand.com

Check out Are You Entertained? Out Now!