We are sure you have heard of Pretty Vicious, as the band hailing from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, has been on everyone’s radar thanks in part to their first huge track 'Cave Song' released last year.
The four piece band made up of Brad Griffiths (vocals and guitar), Thomas McCarthy (guitar), Jarvis Morgan (bass) and Elliot Jones (drums) are, without a shadow of a doubt, one of Britain's hottest young bands. Apart from rocking Glastonbury, the Reading and Leeds Festivals in 2015 and signing a major record deal with Virgin EMI, the band have supported the likes of The Courteeners, Manic Street Preachers, Johnny Marr and former Oasis guitarist, Noel Gallagher.
Almost a year ago, we did an exclusive interview with music historian and Membranes' frontman John Robb and he said on the band 'There's a great band from South Wales, Pretty Vicious. They sound like The Libertines and The Clash. Their stuff sounds really fantastic' . A year later, John Robb's comments proved right. Their stuff is certainly fantastic.
KUL BRITANIA talked to the band about 2015, the making of their debut album, their influences, playing NME Awards and more.
Read our exclusive interview below with one of Britain's most exciting new bands.
KULBRITANIA:How did you all get into music and where did you meet?
PRETTY VICIOUS:We all knew each other through similar social groups and being in the same school together, although Elliot was two years younger, so he didn't know the rest of the band quite as well. We all grew up with quite musical backgrounds. Tom's father and now co-manager of the band, Mark, drummed for a time with Blue Rondo Ala Turk. Elliot's father, Bryn, who is also co-manager of the band played with bands all of his life.
KB: Pretty Vicious are a relatively new band, however, you were signed to one of the most iconic record labels of all time, the label who signed the Sex Pistols among others? What was it like when you heard you were signing your first record deal?
PV: We'd only been together as a band for around 8 months before signing so it surprised us when we learnt we were signing to anyone, never mind Virgin EMI. We were obviously excited but we knew we couldn't let it go to our heads and that we hard to start working even harder than we already were.
KB: Speaking of the Sex Pistols, are you fans of the band and has it influenced your work?
PV: We're all massive fans of the Pistols for their music but more so for the ethos that came with that style of music. In fact, part of the deal with signing with Virgin EMI involved us being given the actual contracts that they signed when they signed to EMI, so they're obviously a big influence on us.
KB: 2015 was a great year for Pretty Vicious, wasn't it?... If there was one word to sum 2015 up, what would that word be?
PV: Awesome!
