Pretty & Nice aren’t exactly your run-of-the-mill experimental indie-pop musicians. With a taste for everything funny, loud, and just plain strange, this New England-based crew would be more at home with the likes of 90s era Blink-182 than the contemporary pallet of indie acts. That said, pop-punk is only a mere fraction of Pretty & Nice’s musical style; over the course of two albums, these four musicians have defied the pigeon-holing that confines so many other acts to the annals of mediocrity.

We were able to catch up with Pretty & Nice a few times over the course of their most recent tour of the United States. Each time their live set was tremendous, a perfect blend of nostalgic 90s punk-pop and 00s musical innovation. A few days after a particularly energetic set with Built to Spill at the Middle East in Boston, we picked the brain of Pretty & Nice’s guitarist, Jeremy Mendicino. Read on for the full interview and a gallery from the show!

Inyourspeakers: Could you give us a little bit of a back story on Pretty & Nice? How you came together and what you’re doing right now?

Jeremy: OK, here it goes: I met Holden when his old band recorded some music at my studio. Eventually, I joined that band, and four year later, here we are, hanging out Madrid! In a more detailed fashion; basically, we got started in Burlington, Vermont where Holden Lewis and I met. We sort of formed the beginnings of P&N there and recorded Pink & Blue together. We went and toured the US for about a year, got some new dudes, and subsequently put together Get Young. We just wrapped up our US tour, and are now working our way through Europe!


IYS: You guys just recently ended your “Friendship Tour,” right? What was your favorite part of it?

Jeremy: Hmmm... I'd have to say I really enjoyed all the time we spent with Youth Group - good fucking salt of the earth dudes. Love 'em. Also, more generally, just getting to see all the people we only get to see when we're on the road (unless we get lucky) was great.

The Get Up Kids and Youth Group are stellar peeps. The tour went by reeeally quickly actually...


IYS: So Pretty & Nice just got to Europe. Is this your first time touring there?

Jeremy: First time! Most of us haven't even been to many Euro countries, so this is a total excuse to take pictures of monuments and castles and shit... and eat too much. Everything here is better (don't tell our government).


IYS: Any first impressions you’d like to share?

Jeremy: American architecture is ALL wrong. When the fuck did people decide that ceilings should be lowered?? When the dollar entered into the equation, that's when! Americans live in an aesthetically 'lowered' country. I'm generalizing of course... but tell me that ceilings aren't higher here because the structures were built before Goal #1 was to cram as many of the overpopulated masses into overpriced housing... You Can't! HA! Take that, suburbia/NYC!! Liberate yourself from the sardine can!


IYS: Do you feel like there are any major differences between European and American crowds?

Jeremy: The European crowds thus far have been very sweet, and far more willing to actually buy a friggin CD! I guess Americans have forgotten that Rapidshare doesn't send us royalties.


IYS: Are you touring with anyone this time around?

Jeremy: Nope, just us, though we did play a few shows at the start of the tour with decabr:ilvelenodelpopolo (from Catania, Sicily). They're wonderful.


IYS: Where are you all most looking forward to playing, or, where have you never played before that you would really like to?

Jeremy: Well, Germany, Croatia, Turkey, Russia, Toronto, Vancouver, and more peoples' basements.


IYS: When I was at your New London show, you guys played a song called “Capsules.” Do you plan on releasing that somehow?

Jeremy: We might have already started recording it... (hint, hint)


IYS: I guess that response begs the next question: Do Pretty & Nice have any big plans they’d like to share with us? Any upcoming tours/albums/singles/etc?

Jeremy: We plan on starting an agrarian society based on the concept that corn is the new gold. Or maybe we're working on a new record. It’s one of the two. It's like a choose-your-own-adventure!


IYS: Is there a story behind the name Pretty & Nice?

Jeremy: Once upon a time, a little child named Brunhilda took a walk in the deep forest behind her castle home. Once past the Waterfall of Enchanted Conundrums, she turned to enter the Caves of Never-ending Servitude. Once through the caves, she jumped on a passing Wallywort bird whose song is equaled by no other avian creature. The Wallywort brought her to a cliff ledge were she sat to ponder the choices she'd up till now made in her young life. She vomited, and was stunned to see that her digestive offal spelled out the words, 'pretty and nice.' She smiled, realizing now that even in the most offensive ideas, thoughts, concepts, items, turns of phrase, and hair metal songs, ephemeral beauty can be found. She turned to walk home, but then realized she was terribly lost.


IYS: Do you feel that any experience you might have gained between Pink & Blue and Get Young may have made the latter any better?

Jeremy: Well, I learned that I should own more stuff. Give me more stuff! Now!


IYS: Has there been any difference in response to Get Young?

Jeremy: We got a lot more press... but I think that had to do with the fact that the press were forced at gunpoint to write about us (and quite in our favor, I might add). Threats always work that way.


IYS: Can we expect Pretty & Nice to be around for a while?

Jeremy: No. No one should ever assume they have even the slightest hint of what might happen next, for as we all know, to assume makes an Ass out of U and Me. But, probably we'll be around for a while, yeah. Why not?

Photography by Derek Duoba