The release of a debut album comes with all kinds of demands: planning shows, shooting music videos, endless amounts of marketing, and the artists are just sitting in the eye of the storm. Luckily for the members of metalcore duo THE PRETTY WILD, they have managed to find calm in the chaos. Catching up with sisters Jyll and Jules Wylde just before the release of zero.point.genesis, they explain how they are managing to keep their cool.
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“We’ve been in a whirlwind, but the more we’ve gotten into the process the more we’ve let go. Oddly enough, that’s kind of the premise of the album. All of the industry people are freaking out about numbers, and we’re just in creator mode, we’re just so removed from the pressure to perform. The more intense it gets, the more we dive into our inner world,” Jyll explains. While they aren’t too worried about numbers, they are focused on how the album will reach people, as Jules adds.
“It means more to me when somebody comes up to us at a live show and is like, ‘I love Paradox, it inspired me to finish my comic book’, like that’s sick. We’re probably not traditionalist in that way.” It is important to the songwriters is that their music is empowering to women, and they find it incredibly rewarding to see how it has inspired their female audience to find their creative side.
While THE PRETTY WILD want their music to inspire other women to get involved in making metal music, they also acknowledge the difficulties and why there is still such a lack of female representation in the genre. Jyll explains, “we never wanted to cause a divide, like men versus women, but there are unignorable factors that are just honest in our story. Our whole thing is to integrate the polarities, but those imbalances do need to be addressed.” Although the genre is currently the most open-minded it has ever been, there is still work to be done, and there are a small but undeniable group of people who aren’t as accepting. Jules adds, “you see a lot of incredible bands with female components, but I also think the genre is physically very demanding, and a lot of the vocal parts are not as forgiving to the female vocal structure, so it takes a lot of confidence to put yourself out there and make mistakes. For us it’s just cathartic, it’s almost compulsive that we have to do this.”
‘Female rage’ is a term that’s often thrown about, especially in the context of women in metal music, but for THE PRETTY WILD, it means they have a place to let go, and feel all of their emotions proudly and openly, something women aren’t always allowed to do. Much of this new album is based on the band finding their voices, something that Jyll describes as “innately feminine”.
In the current output of music, visuals are often just as crucial to the makeup of an album, and this is where THE PRETTY WILD thrive. Jules explains that she has an extensive background in theatrical creative directing, and this knowledge is plain to see in everything that they create. All the different inspirations and current fixations somehow make their way into the album’s visuals, including but not limited to Tim Burton, the baroque era, philosophy, classical music and famous acrobats. Jules laughs, saying “it sounds like we’re not from this century”, but it was vital that the album became a world to live in, and the visuals just deepen the understanding of everything that is said. The artwork in particular is heavily inspired by Mark Ryden’s surrealist paintings, an uncanny exploration into the nightmarish side of girlhood. The stage fashion is also key, and Jules explains. “It’s another form of the art. It’s an extension of the brand and of creative expression, and it would be a travesty to ignore that. It makes it worthwhile when you get to scratch every creative itch, in all the corners it could exist in.” Jyll adds, “sometimes people say ‘it’s not a fashion show girls’. Yes it is! Fuck off!”
It’s clear that much of the ethos of THE PRETTY WILD is based on pushing the boundaries in the music industry, as well as changing the way things are done for the better, and this was put into place when they announced their decision to drop out of their support slot on the upcoming SET IT OFF tour. With a statement implying that they have decided to put their mental health first, the burning question is how they made this decision. Jyll explains, “I’m a gymnast, and you really learn how to listen to your body. A somatic understanding of the body’s intelligence is really important, and I feel like coming from the old-school mindset of the industry, that wasn’t valued. Knowing when it’s time, that can be really hard to do, especially when the pressure gets crazy, but being confident and honouring your body’s wisdom is important.”
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This is a sentiment that comes through in the message of the album, and while the band make it very clear how grateful they are to be in this position, it would be contradictory to not prioritise their mental health. By taking a step back, they are ensuring that anytime they do perform, they do it as the best versions of themselves.
zero.point.genesis is an album full of powerful messaging, and both Jyll and Jules wanted to inspire their listeners to put their mental health first, and feel like they can take on anything. Jules says, “the most important message is that people feel energised and ready to tackle whatever it is that’s dragging them down in life.” Jyll ends with, “there’s something bigger that we’re all attached to, and I hope people listen and feel a sense of calmness at it’s core, even though we’re screaming at you.”
zero.point.genesis is out now via Sumerian Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS126 here:
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Katatonia live @ The Garage, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Duncan McCall
Katatonia live @ The Garage, Glasgow. Photo Credit: Duncan McCall
