Pretty & Nice, But Mostly Just Fun

Holden Lewis and Jeremy Mendicino may be pretty and nice, but most of all, this duo is fun. Pretty & Nice, Lewis and Mendicino’s band, have been Boston’s best-kept secret for years now. Formed in a basement somewhere on the outskirts of the city, the band records their own snappy pop with both grace and childlike abandon, making them the pop band to beat. After completing the band as a foursome with Kevin Walsh and Roger Lussier, the band took to the streets, touring relentlessly.

Pretty & Nice’s latest release, Get Young, is nothing short of wonderful. Warping pop hints around a solid static and noisy aggression, the latest release is modern in sound, but a throwback in emotion- embodying all that Pretty & Nice is. The band’s been on tour essentially since the release (with more energy than most of the bands you could think of) and shows no signs of becoming ‘€œtoo old’€ or ‘€œtoo young.’€

Lewis and Mendicino got me up to speed on line in the fast line, how they stay so fun and their plans to record.

KP: You guys record in your basement, so it’s safe to say you’re a pretty DIY band. How much do you actually do yourselves?

JM: We rule the world! We operate every machine of our collective existence. And well! And How!

HL: Yeah, we have a studio ‘€“ It’s called Esthudio. It has pretty pictures and lists: esthudio.com. We started out doing EVERYTHING that you can do on our own. Now, we’re fortunate enough to have some help, but we like to think we’re more self-sufficient than yer average band.

KP: You all tweet, update your Facebook, and blog. In your opinion, how does social networking aid in a band’s success?

HL: Really, we’d just want to be able to tell everyone when we have a show, put out music, or do something interesting. Now we upload mixes and other little gifts for anyone who happens to stumble upon our website. Promotion for shows is now more electronic than physical/real-world, so you do what you gotta do!

KP: Your last album, Get Young, was very well received. What do you think made it so likable?

JM: Well, it’s fun, you know? It’s just fun! Sometimes it’s light, sometimes it’s dark, but it’s always positive and celebratory. I think there’s a receptor in people that turns on when it feels positivity, right? So we’re drugs for your meta-consciousness. Ding!

KP: In addition to the title of the album, a lot of the songs have a nostalgic quality. What do you miss most from your childhood?

HL: Wonder! Living inside your mind! I miss hammering nail after nail into my treehouse. I called that ‘€œworking on the treehouse.’€ I also miss wandering through woods. Everything was wonderful, I can’t ever remember being bored or relying on anything/anyone for entertainment. Also, Get Young is often about not forgetting the idea/ideals you had when you were young.

JM: Yeah’€¦ I really miss how awesome all the mundane things in my life felt to me back then! Like, I own a LOT of guitars, and if I showed my guitar collection to me at 8 years old, my jaw would have dropped and I would have probably cried’€¦ with pure, unfettered joy. Now, they’re one more stack of things I have to dust. (laughs)

KP: How do you keep your sound so fun and playful?

JM: Whipped cream!

HL: We write stuff that’ll be fun to play. If a song approaches anything less than an 8 on the fun scale, we throw it out.

JM: Garbage. Nothin’ but net!

KP: What is an average day on tour like for you?

JM: Get up at some kind concertgoers hip hyper-modern loft, get tea at Starbucks, then some at a little Japanese place, then tea at Tiffany’s'€¦

HL: Touring in the US, there’re a lot of franchises and strip malls of more franchises. Burger King looks good next to a Rally’s or Taco John’s. When we were in Europe last Fall we ate a lot of wonderful food. It’s tough to stay healthy though. We’re trying to get more bananas and apples than fries these days.

KP: We’ll that’s good! You’ve been touring for a long while now. Any plans to record soon?

J&H: As soon as we get home. We swear!! Pledge, criss-crossy, pinky swear, extra juju berries!