Pretty In Stereo Is...
Natalie - Vocals/Guitar
Lynn - Bass/Backing Vocals
Christine - Guitar
Jodi - Drums
This hotter than ever all female rockin' quartet from Orange County, CA is winning fans coast to coast and finding notable success all before the release of their first full length. With just one show left before the gals retire to the recording studio find out what's on their minds and what the band is unleashing in '06!!!
Pretty In Stereo Interview
TCZ: Describe your impression of how Pretty In Stereo came into existence, and how you came to join the band.
Natalie & Lynn: We've been close friends for several years. We had been in a few bands together in the past that weren't the right mix of people so we took a break and readdressed what we really wanted to do and Pretty in Stereo was born.
Christine: Well, I had talked to Natalie through emails and she asked if I would or knew anyone who would be interested in trying out for the band. I said no but I'd see. I went for coffee with her and talked, she was wicked mad cool. Then she came to my work and we talked and she asked me to come to practice to check it out and I was all like ok. I went and I liked it.
Jodi: I had moved here from Virginia and had played in a couple of bands that didn't work out. I was sitting at the computer one night looking at classified ads for drummers and came upon Lynn and Natalie's ad. I liked the music and we got together and everything clicked.
TCZ: When did you start playing your instruments? What was your first equipment and how did you acquire it?
Natalie: I started playing guitar at age 8, it was acoustic. My father gave it to me and I began taking lessons. My first electric guitar was a J. Steele Strat knockoff that I made my mom buy off a door to door Magazine Sales person. My first real stage rig was a Marshall VS 265 combo amp that sounded like caca but it was all I could afford.
Lynn: Age 21, I started playing bass. My first bass was borrowed from a band member at the time. I am left handed and the bass was right handed so I had to string it upside down. My first amp was an Ampeg B2 and the cab was a big beast of a Peavy. I bought both off a friend.
Christine: 14yrs old. My dad's friend made him a guitar and he never played it so I picked it up and taught myself. Then I picked up drums for 5 yrs and did guitar as a side project and now I quit drums and have been playing guitar again for the past couple years.
Jodi: I started at 11 years old. I used to beat on a single practice pad, then went to a single snare, then my folks bought me my first drum set. It was a cheap no-name kit but it worked for me. After showing my parents how dedicated I was for a year or so, they let me pick out a new kit which is the Tama set I play with today. The original set up is a 9-peice kit but I scaled it down to a four piece. My last band in Virginia was sponsored by Jagermeister and we toured a lot. Carrying a large drum set was out of the question. The smaller the better.
TCZ: If there was one female musician you could point to as the biggest influence in your life, who would it be?
Natalie: I'm mostly influenced by male players but if I had to pick a girl it would definitely be Sean Yseult from White Zombie.
Lynn: Samantha from Shift, Motley Crue, Hole.
Christine: Lita Ford, she's awesome and Gwen Steffani.
Jodi: I have no female influences. All the other band's I've played in were mostly all males. I can't pick out any female musicians that have influenced my playing.
Note: Jodi received personal lessons from Jazz Drummer Howard Curtis and Def Leppard's Rick Allen, to name a few.
TCZ: Despite the fact you have not even released a full-length record yet, you have already reached a level within the music industry that some bands never will. To what do you attribute your early success?
Pretty In Stereo: I think consistently playing shows as often as we can, continuous promotion, and keeping close communication with our fans made a huge difference. We are all very driven and motivated individuals and the fact that we're all working together just makes everything we aspire to do that much more attainable. We've also been in situations and bands where we had the chance to make the mistakes and learn from them. We started this project with less falling down to do.
TCZ: Tell us about a typical day in the studio?
Pretty In Stereo: When we are recording, we all have so many production ideas running through our heads. We approach each song and each part as something we evaluate to see if there is any way to make it bigger and better. A few margaritas make their way around the lounge and overall, it's a pretty inspiring and relaxed atmosphere. Most of our recording is done at one of our houses so there is no pressure for time or money.
TCZ: What are your goals for your music? What's your take on the often conflicting objectives of artistic and commercial success?
Pretty In Stereo:We'd like to share our music with the world. We would like to make a living doing that, which we don't think is "selling out". People should follow their dreams right? Well that is ours. We all share the same goal in this band.
We think there needs to be balance. You can attain a level of artistic success while being commercially successful at the same time. Make the best of both worlds. It is possible you know.TCZ: What are your feelings about being a female working in a male-dominated industry? Do you wish interviewers would stop asking that question?
Pretty In Stereo: It's tough but we're strong and determined. We get the occasional jerks who think they can sweet talk us into something shady simply because of our gender, but we're not naive and we maintain a cool head and can filter them out. It also seems there is a stereotype of sorts associated with female musicians and bands that it's either all about man-hate or the opposite end and fluffy bubble gum, prewritten material. We hope we can break that stereotype. We write all our own songs and can play just as hard and well as any guy can. We're down to earth rockers, bottom line. We do get asked this often but we don't mind answering it as it seems to be something that is very important!
TCZ: What's your routine in getting ready to play a gig?
Pretty In Stereo: We usually practice the night before so we're fresh. On the way to the venue we always warm up vocally. When we get to the venue, we pride ourselves in being as professional as possible. We set up before we go on stage and make sure we have extras of everything, strings, guitars, heads, sticks, batteries, you name it. We are prepared and take minimal time to get on and off stage in order to be respectful to the other acts performing that night. Oh yeah, Christine has to paint her nails before each show or else she feels like she might jinx herself.
TCZ: Can you tell us a little about your new album and what we can expect from it?
Pretty In Stereo: We have quite a bit of new material that we feel supersedes the material we have been performing the past year. It is definitely going to be an "in your face" rock explosion. It won't be what anyone would expect from a girl band. We are very excited to start working on it. We will be tracking drums with former White Zombie drummer Ivan DePrume and completing the rest as it stands right now in our own personal studio. We are currently looking for a producer but haven't come across any that are a good match with us yet. Our release date is scheduled for Feb 2006.
TCZ: Tell us about the video you're doing September 3rd. Why do fans want to be there?
Pretty In Stereo: It's our first live taping of a show that we have done. We are working with a talented video director Spence (Wayne Isham's assistant: Velvet Revolver, Metallica, NSync), who will be taping that night. We want to get the full effect of a live concert and have as many people in the video as possible. We plan to release a DVD with interviews and live footage around the time we release our full length CD.