We wanted to give you the scoop on this band, their new record, and this show, so went right to the source. Check out what TJ, Mz. Mockery and Li'l Queenie had to say.
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| Photo Borrowed from Pretty Ghouls' Facebook |
HID- How would you explain your band to someone who has never heard you before?
TJ Ghoul- "Trashy garage punk, I guess? To me, they're just pop songs with lots of fuzz."
Mz. Mockery- "It's insanity."
HID- How did the three of you start playing music together?
TJ Ghoul- "I was stumbling around Mt. Hazel Cemetery in the middle of the night looking for Son House's grave when these two banshees come screaming out of the dark. Turned out to be Li'l Queenie and Mz. Mockery here, doing lord knows what. Against my better judgement I ended up hanging out with them."
HID- Tell us about the new EP! Where did you record it? What's the idea behind the title? What can fans expect?
TJ Ghoul- "The title is a reference to a fake venue for a fake show we played in Marseille, France. We recorded it with Jim Diamond over at Ghetto Recorders. He saw a youtube video of us he sent us a message demanding that we come record with him. So we did, and it sounds perfectly insane."
HID- Do you have a favorite track off of the new album?
TJ Ghoul- "The lyrics for "Kill Slugs" are my favorite, if yer able to discern them. I wrote it about an old French horror film called "Slugs", which you can stream on Netflix. It's amazing."
Li'l Queenie- "Outlaw Blues. It's one of the first songs we learned together as a band."
HID- Which band member writes most of your songs? Or do you guys write them together?
TJ Ghoul- "I write most the music and lyrics. Which is funny, because I barely know how to play the guitar. So, trying to translate what's in my head to explain it to the girls usually results in me rambling something like, "It's kinda like that one part of that Cramps song but with a bit of this Beatles song, then there's this Shangri-Las breakdown, I'll do some ohhh and you do some ahhh's, and then we all make lots of noise….and the whole thing just kinda feels like that scene of a Roger Corman movie, you know?" Which makes perfect sense to me, but they look at my like I'm an idiot…which I probably am. But once they get the idea of it they usually edit out all my bad ideas, they're very good at that. In the end it all somehow works in the most dysfunctional way."
HID- Why did you guys decide to team up with Seraphine Collective for your release show?
TJ Ghoul- "I think the Seraphine Collective is one of the best things to come out of the Detroit music scene in a while. I've always been a big advocate of women in music. Whenever I book shows I try to involve bands with a female presence, this show was no exception, and so it was only natural that we got Seraphine involved."
Mz. Mockery- "Bitches are cool."
Li'l Queenie- "They represent women in music and that's important to us."
HID- Tell us about the other bands on the bill.
TJ Ghoul- "Mystery Actions are from Chicago, they're a rad bunch of obstreperous punks. One of the things I love about female musicians is when they get on stage and totally tear down all the stereotypical notions of what people expect from a woman on stage. These ladies do not disappoint. Junglefowl is a newer band from Ypsilanti. I listened to just one of their songs online and decided we needed them on board. I've had opportunities since to hear more and see them, but I decided I wanted to wait till our show with them."
Mz. Mockery- "Mystery Actions came to us wanting to play a show in Detroit, and it was very exciting that a band we played with once while on tour years ago wanted to come to Detroit and play with us again."
HID- Why should someone come out to the release show at Trumbullplex on the 13th?
TJ Ghoul- "Ha, I dunno, the Main Art is showing "Wrath of Khan" on the big screen at midnight. I kinda wish I could go to that instead."
HID- We want to get to know you guys a little better. What is your favorite venue to play at in the Detroit area?
TJ Ghoul- "UFO Factory has been very good to us. I'm also fond of the Painted Lady."
Mz. Mockery- "Painted Lady."
Li'l Queenie- "Yeah, both of those are fun."
HID- Favorite Detroit bands?
TJ Ghoul- "Outrageous Cherry is one of the greatest bands ever. Hentchmen, Gories, Timmy's Organism, White Stripes are probably some of my all time faves. Currently, Prude Boys have been awesome, Mexican Knives are rad, Blaire Alise learned how to play kazoo, so she's going places. Oscillating Fan Club has secretly developed into one of the best bands in town."
HID- Favorite bands in general?
TJ Ghoul- "The Beatles, always and forever and ever. The Cramps, The Mummies, Link Wray, Bo Diddley, Screaming Lord Sutch, the Shangri-Las. Mz. Mockery: David Bowie, Pixies, Wu-Tang Clan."
Li'l Queenie- "Velvet Underground, Violent Femmes, Rolling Stones."
HID- If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
TJ Ghoul- "Spoons of peanut butter."
Mz. Mockery- "Tacos…or burritos."
Li'l Queenie- "Tacos."
TJ Ghoul- "…and Tacos."
HID- Drink of choice?
TJ Ghoul- "Milkshakes."
Mz. Mockery- "Blood of any animal."
Li'l Queenie- "Water."
HID- Favorite thing to do in the summer?
TJ Ghoul- "Thunderstorm porch sitting while listening to Blind Willie Johnson, or making out to horror movies with the windows open."
Mz. Mockery- "Your mom."
Li'l Queenie- "Camping."
HID- What are some of your favorite places around Metro Detroit? Stores, restaurants, bars, you name it!
TJ Ghoul- "Duly's and Mexican Village in Southwest. Tuesday nights with Dennis Coffey at Northern Lights Lounge is like weekly therapy."
Mz. Mockery- "I love all the new places for white people!"
Li'l Queenie- "The Stonehouse."
To hear previously released music from Pretty Ghouls, head over to their bandcamp here. Saturday's show is set to start at 9 p.m. The Trumbullplex is located at 4210 Trumbull in Detroit.
~C
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