Pretty are people who appear onstage with lots of noise and then leave. This half-silly, half- serious sentence summarizes the Toronto psych band’s ethic and sound, from their early inspiration by Toronto’s 2010s-era DIY punk scene, to their current fascination with psychedelic sound and culture, elements that fuse into a highly distinctive, dark and frenzied sonic landscape. The group has enjoyed success on streaming platforms, with their debut single Mushroom Man currently approaching two million Spotify plays.
Since Mushroom Man, the band has recorded their second EP and follow-up to their debut album Sertraline Dream (2020); played headline sets to increasingly large and enthusiastic crowds and been featured act for Exclaim! Magazine’s Class of 2022, Canadian Music Week and Sarnia’s Empty Fest. If you dig getting warped and discovering another side of yourself, you won’t want to miss Pretty.
Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Big-scale (Torin): Being produced by Ty Segall would be incredibly cool.
Small-scale (Torin): There is an amazing band here in Toronto called Kali Horse that everyone should check out. It would be really fun to do something with them!
(Morgan): It’s also very fun that we know so many talented people that we’ve already collaborated with. Leanna Gennuso is a good pal who did our EP artwork. Sarah Bauman directed our new music video. Eric Daniels is a local animator who is a good friend, he made an 11-minute odyssey of a music video for our song Headspace and we’d love to work with him again. Long story short: we love our friends, and you should love them too.
Which famous musicians do you admire?
(Torin): Kikagaku Moyo, Amyl and the Sniffers, Weyes Blood, Ty Segall. All are making interesting music and performing it well.
What is the best advice you have been given?
(Eliot): The industry changes fast, so most advice you get will probably be outdated by the time you’re ready to use it. No one else knows what they’re doing, anyway.
What is the biggest challenge of the current release?
(Eliot): For our new EP (that Wait for the Sun is from) we decided to experiment with some different recording techniques. We recorded our LP Sertraline Dream live off the floor and got every song in 2 to 4 takes, but for Citrus Magic we decided to go for a more modern, one-track-at-a-time type approach. We found it hard to be completely satisfied with the results at first because of how different it sounded from Sertraline Dream, but we persevered, finished the EP and it’s a product we can confidently stand behind now. Maybe there’s room for improvement but that just makes us more excited to make new music in the future.
What are your top two favorite albums of all time? Why those albums?
(Torin/Eliot): The Monks – Black Monk Time & Maitreya Kali – Apache/Inca. The sounds are unconventional and the stories even more so (they are too long to reproduce here but you should definitely look them up). Both albums inspired us while recording Citrus Magic.
What was the last thing you dressed up as?
(Torin/Eliot/Morgan): A sexy gnome, his cat, and their mailman (yes there are pics. No you can’t see them).
If you had to describe yourself as a flavor, what would it be?
(Morgan): When you’re a moose licking salt off someone’s tires, and there’s a public advisory not to ask the moose to move because it’s bigger than you, and it needs its salt. That’s the kind of salt flavor we are.
What’s your least favorite personality trait you like about yourself?
(Torin): All-consuming fear of death.
Which are cooler? Dinosaurs or Dragons?
(Torin): Definitely, dragons, cause they can breathe fire. And they’re still around.
What is the most useless talent you have?
(Torin): We play musical instruments. Some of us even play more than one!
https://instagram.com/prettytheband/
https://tiktok.com/pretty_the_band/
https://www.youtube.com/prettytheband/ (music videos)