Q+A With: Pretty Talks

Capturing and celebrating all things bittersweet and beautiful in the world, glistening alt pop trio PRETTY TALKS return with an immersive and intensely engaging new single Hurt Me, officially out now. Showcasing a relationship breakdown sound tracked by glossy pop and retro synths, Hurt Me is also today accompanied by a raw music video that traverses youthful romance and the many harsh realities that can come with the territory, while also drawing inspiration from early 2000s and 2010s pop culture for good measure.

We caught up with the band for a quick Q+ A

Hi, thanks for taking the time to chat with Hear 2 Zen, what have you been up to today?

We spent most of the day in the studio – Writin’ hits ‘cause they ain’t gonna’ to write themselves.

Tell us about yourself, how long have you been performing/creating music for?

All of us originally met at a music college and have been flirting with each other musically and socially for the last seven years. In that time we’ve been in a couple of projects and all live together now, so we try and create collaboratively every other day.

Who are your greatest inspirations? Why?

Liam: As a frontman, it’s always been Michael Hutchence (INXS). For years I’ve obsessed over his stage presence and natural sex appeal. Musically and intellectually; Matty Healy (The 1975). I’m enamored by his intelligence and authenticity.

Hadi: When I was growing up and learning my instrument I spent a lot of time playing Red Hot Chilli Peppers songs, so Flea has always been a huge inspiration for me. It’s also on my bucket list to voice a cartoon character, which he’s also done.

Tommy: Dave Grohl (Nirvana / Foo Fighters). His innovation on the kit with Nirvana but also his journey into becoming a songwriter later in his career was a big inspiration for me.

How do you create music? Are you lyrics/story driven, or does the music/melody come first? Explain your process.

Half our songs begin with half-formed lyrical ideas from Tommy and Liam which then get brought to the rest of the band and developed. We love to brainstorm what the story behind the initial idea looks like and try to build upon that collaboratively. We then get together to flesh that out musically in our home studio, often writing and re-writing new directions as the song comes to fruition.

The other half start with one of us trying to capture a specific emotion sonically and then building the song (usually the chorus) around that.

What has been your greatest challenge so far in performing/creating music?

Obviously COVID has been a huge obstacle, but that’s been a universal challenge. It pushed back our release of these songs for nearly 2 years. Other than that, a challenge that we’ve struggled with in the past and are starting to overcome is tapping into our emotions honestly and writing songs without fear of being inauthentic. Coming to terms with real emotions as they’re being written on the page.

Tell us about your new release Hurt Me, how did it come about?

It was kind of our first venture into introducing pop elements to our music. Liam took inspiration from Lauv’s “I like me better” while writing the pre-chorus. He tells a story about writing the pre-chorus melody whilst staying up at his mum’s house on the Central Coast and sneaking away to the beach at night to smoke cigarettes. That became the basis for this song. From there we dived lyrically into feelings of inadequacy in relationships and that brought up a bunch of shared experiences that we built on.

What advice do you have to artists who are just starting out?

Taking that first step towards playing live is probably the most important thing. It’s always going to feel like you’re not quite ready, but at a certain point you’ve got to take that plunge because there’s no substitute to getting up on stage.

Tell us your favourite Zen practice.

Our band’s nightly blood-magic rituals and a nice cup of tea.