SXSW Music Interview: Pretty City (Melbourne) chat gaffer tape, their debut LP & breakfast tacos at SXSW!

Let me set the scene and take you back to the Aussie BBQ at SXSW this year; like last year, I arrived at Brush Square Park looking up at the overcast skies that threatened to unleash torrent upon torrent of rain on the event. Thankfully, unlike last year, the Aussie BBQ escaped and enjoyed a dry run in Austin this time round. Any who, I’m setting up the AU’s interview table, easing into the day with a mimosa and hot dog (#cleaneating), when Pretty City turn things up to 11 and wake everyone within close vicinity up with some throttling indie rock music, tinged with a delicious side of grunge.

A clever, clever programming move by Sounds Australia having the Melbourne band on first, they shook away remnants of Thursday night’s hangover, woke us up and pulled more people in to check out what artists were still to come on the program. Following their set, DrewJohnny and Hugh dropped in to have a chat with me about their SXSW so far and their plans once they returned home, namely the release of their debut album.

“We’ve got our debut album coming out in late April,” Drew says. “We’ve got our album launch shows in Melbourne and Sydney in April, this [SXSW] is kicking off our 2016.”

“Back home we normally have a bit more of a lighting rig set up.” Johnny elaborates of the band’s SXSW experiences so far. “We bring a whole of lights with us and this time round, obviously we can’t stick all of that into hand luggage, so we bought a couple LED torches and thought, ‘That’ll work! They’re super bright, we’ll totally be fine!’ The first gig, we switched them on and put them on stage and it was like, nothing. Can’t see shit. That was disappointing but apart from that, we’re pretty robust!”

The band’s album is one fans have been hankering for after what was a successful 2015 for Pretty City, working tirelessly on a captivating and fun live show and single releases positioning themselves for what’s already looking to be a busy 2016 in terms of new music.

“It’s been exciting just getting a body of work together.” Johnny says. “Having singles are great, but then you wish people got to hear the whole set; you always want people to be able to go home with the sets after they’ve seen you live. it would be great to have the album, like, ‘That’s everything – if you’ve got that, you’ve got the lot’.”

“We wanted to bottle the energy between us,” Hugh adds. “I feel like there’s a unique chemistry between us when we play. An album is a great way of taking people through that whole experience; that’s the thing we’re addicted to, that’s the thing we love. Sharing the whole thing with people is really beautiful.”

Watch the full interview below!

Pretty City launch their new album in Melbourne at the end of the month!

April 30th | The Workers Club, MELBOURNE

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