MySpaceGlamour, personality, sex appeal, intelligence, feistiness – all things sadly missing from many of the current crop of music bandwagon jumpers and too cool for school mummy’s boys, but hold on a minute! London four piece PRIS (comprised of three girls Cat on vocals, Agatha on guitar, Mary on bass and rarely seen guy Sam on guitars) so named after a replicant sex worker in the film Bladerunner, have all of these things, and a bit more. Their attitude throbbing hormonally charged gutter post punk sound; ‘fuck you’ spirit belies their short time together.
Forming in late 2009 and gaining a somewhat unwanted reputation late last year for a rough early support slot with the Manic Street Preachers (the Manics were rough when they started too you know?) in Newport. PRIS have steadily gained ground, defining their sound on stage and now on record each one flecked with the kind of heartbreak, knowing kitchen sink glamour, and hints of the girl group classics that make them the natural successors to the likes of Transvision Vamp, Kenickie, The Long Blondes and We Start Fires. They may hark back to some of these but most of all PRIS drip with the kind of attitude and personality so bereft in this sometimes apathetic postmillennial music scene….
‘Blue Tak baby’ video here is a joyous celebration of that seemingly long forgotten past time of plastering your walls with your latest musical icons, (and the sticky stuff that holds them up) from the latest issue of smash hits,(and a clear nod toward the old fashioned paper fanzines) It’s a delectable everphsant DIY pop anthem, tinged with a deconstruction of the beauty myth! All strident talky Shampoo-esque raiding of pop music’s wardrobe, complimented by bouncing keyboards and a bubble ball rhythm section that’s batted back gleefully against all four walls of the room, it’s bounding vocal harmonies even hints at the work of the sherells, while the spangly guitar licks are punctuated by singer Cat’s caustic cockney put downs ‘he actually said he was influenced by the Klaxons?!?(laughs)”
These aren’t just throaway tunes, there’s no Pippettes-esque Wizard of Oz male songwriter behind the curtain, there’s individuality, intelligence, literateness, and sheer heart to go alongside PRIS’ obvious heartbreaker looks. ‘Breaking Hearts & Giving up’ pounds with confused affairs of the heart, I want you? I want to leave you? It’s all wrapped up in a spiky bittersweet pop that harks back to the buzzing rush you felt from early Elastica, and laced with vignettes from Cat’s well-thumbed diary. While ‘Crying after Kennedy’ is apparently inspired by Marilyn Monroe the loss of love that became tragic obsession, and relates it to every woman’s yearning for that perfect relationship yet realising that it might not exist and so you end your life, because you really just can’t cope, because at the end of it you’re probably going to die alone and that is even worse. and the title is a dead give away. (Cat Gordon)
Last demo ‘True Romance’ is perhaps their finest moment to date and a hint one hopes of things to come, with rolling rhythms and riffs redolent of Manic Street Preachers Generation Terrorist era glam rock, its swaying melancholic verse line depicts a bittersweet love affair and bursts with ‘oooo ooooo’ coos, and spiralling hook lines that make the heart flutter as you collapse crying onto your bed. Like all the best pop its catchy yet achingly bittersweet, all the at the same time!
Currently holed up recording their debut single PRIS are potentially something special, if they’re in the gutter they’re looking at the stars with glitter in their eyes….
