Pretty Girls Make Graves
w/ Botch, Himsa, Harkonen

Sat May 26, Paradox, 524-7677.

Too much hype can spoil anything.

With anticipation and excitement comes the slightest fear that saying too much will hinder an upcoming band's chances of success by not allowing the band members time to fully develop themselves before everyone expects perfection.

But once in a great while, a band comes along whose diverse talents dovetail so tightly into one another that just the first mention of a collaboration raises keen interest and expectation. Pretty Girls Make Graves is a band worthy of such anticipation, and their recent public debut at Graceland was no disappointment. Playing a short but energetic set, the five-piece left a room full of curious music fans with the impression that this would be a band to reckon with.

What makes Pretty Girls Make Graves instantly vital? In addition to band members' work with previous and current bands (singers Andrea Zollo and Derek Fudesco have worked together in the past with Area 51, Death Wish Kids, and the Hookers; guitarist Nathan Johnson and drummer Nick DeWitt collaborated in Beehive Vault; and guitarist Jay Clark figures in several bands locally, including the intense, experimental Sharks Keep Moving), there's a sense of dedication and musical energy that comes through immediately. Which is what sent local music journalists to their keyboards and record labels to their telephones after hearing a rough mix of the band's first recording session. (Despite having played only one live show, Pretty Girls has a single coming out on Sound Virus in June, to be followed by an EP on Dim Mak in July.)

"The raddest thing about Seattle is that there are so many different kinds of bands, and they all can play shows together," says Fudesco of the drive behind Pretty Girls Make Graves. "You can take a crazy metal hardcore band and have them play a show with 764-HERO."

DeWitt agrees that this unique cross-pollination of bands makes for a more productive environment: "If you sit through a show featuring four really quiet bands in a row, by the third one you want to fall asleep. If you have a bill with different kinds of bands on it, the whole thing is so much more exciting." Fudesco, who travels extensively as a member of the Murder City Devils, feels lucky to live in his adopted home of Seattle, and is an enthusiastic supporter of the local music community. "I've traveled to a lot of other cities, and Seattle has so much more going on than anywhere else. I don't think everyone realizes that some of the best bands of the moment are here in Seattle, in every genre. San Francisco doesn't have shit, though everyone's talking about it right now. A lot of cities don't have shit, and I can think of 10 bands, right off the top of my head, all coming out of Seattle that are just so rad. And they're right here."

Zollo is an assured frontwoman who knows how to play to the audience without ever pandering. Petite, curvy, and nostalgically pretty--and graced with the incongruent demeanor of a well-mannered bad girl--she winks and smiles while she sings about feminist icons as well as typical rock and roll topics like sex and getting loaded. Beside her, the boys pound out well-informed songs that make typecasting impossible. One moment you're being reminded of the inventiveness of XTC, while another recalls New York City's late-'70s downtown scene. Johnson's youthful enthusiasm is infectious, and the obvious fondness the band members share with one another (as well as their skill and fortuitous timing with having found each other) is invigorating.

"It was just a matter of finding the right people to play with," says Zollo of their nearly four-year search for a lineup that gelled. "I've been playing music my entire life, and I've only clicked with two groups of people: the Devils and these guys. You've got five people working together to make something, and there's always going to be conflicting egos or one person trying to outshine everyone else. This band has been about people with different musical interests making a solid thing happen." "Our differences compliment each other," adds Clark.

With so much going on creatively in an industry based on getting "noticed," there's always the fear that too much recognition will spawn a backlash among jealous/jaded audiences. This notion lights the tiniest of fires under Fudesco, who encourages unbridled creativity. "Being in a band is not a sport. But anyone who gets in a band and tries to make something happen deserves some respect. Anyone can sit on their couch and complain, but if it's so bad, then why don't they get off their asses and make something happen?"