The Pretty Reckless Ask Showbox SoDo Who You Selling For

The Pretty Reckless w/ Holy White Hounds & Them Evils
Showbox SoDo, Seattle, WA
12.02.16

It’s not often that former teen drama TV stars go on to sing in successful rock bands, but Taylor Momsen is making it work. Since her time on Gossip Girl, she’s released three full length albums, along with a handful of EPs and singles, with her band The Pretty Reckless. In support of this year’s Who You Selling For, the band swept through Seattle’s Showbox SoDo to the screams of dedicated fans.

Orange County, CA’s Them Evils kicked off the night with classic rock and roll, reminiscent of acts like AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. The sound was a bit random, and missed the mark a little in terms of finding an opening band with a similar sound to that of the headliner. While the set was pretty good, the best part was definitely their hair. Each band member had long hair that was whipped around through the whole set, becoming more entertaining than their actual music.

Getting the crowd excited for the rest of the night with their fast-paced set were Iowa natives Holy White Hounds. The group occupies some fantastic, raw alternative-rock space somewhere between Queens of the Stone Age and Nirvana. They weren’t afraid to be completely themselves on stage, and gave off a carefree attitude. The band filled their set with tracks off their debut album Sparkle Sparkle, which was released in early 2016. The best way to describe the kind of performance they had would be to mention that within the first three songs, the guitarist went crowd surfing, two of the band members made out (or smashed faces intentionally, depending on how you look at it) mid-song, and there were mock punches thrown between the boys.

There was never a dull moment, as they filled breaks between tracks with banter about how everyone makes Seattle rain jokes, Forest Gump impressions, and quirky dialogue between the band members. Their music was just as entertaining as they were. It was fun, catchy music that held the kind of raw, low vocals of Nirvana on top of more contemporary alt-rock instrumentation. HWH were certainly the hidden gem of the night, coming in without a lot of popularity, but quickly winning over the crowd with their charismatic performance.

Opening their set with “Follow Me Down,” the first track off their sophomore album, TPR entered the stage to the screams of all the dedicated fans. Everyone sang along to tracks both new and old, as Momsen whipped her blond hair around. Their newest album, Who You Selling For takes a bit of a different direction than their first two. While there are good moments throughout, the album tends to lean bluesier and a bit softer than their older stuff.

Tracks like “Take Me Down” and “Prisoner” lose some of the catchy intensity and drive that used to be more prevalent, and instead dial it down to a more basic sound. “Oh My God,” on the other hand, the third song of their set, hit the other end of the spectrum with constant fast guitar and drum parts under odd melodies and lyrics that don’t necessarily blend so well—the kind of stuff you usually see in a band’s earlier days.

The Pretty Reckless picked their set back up with older track, “Make Me Wanna Die,” a song the whole crowd new and was happy to sing back. The band then threw it back to one of their very first songs “My Medicine.” The track is catchy, memorable, and simple, the perfect track to stick in the middle of the set. “My Medicine” was a fun one to watch, the whole band seemed to enjoy playing it, and the simplicity of the thinner sound made it stand out from the rest of the set as the kind of song that the band will probably keep in their set for a long time.

They finished off their set with the title track off their latest album, followed by a handful of older popular ones. This included an extended version of “Going To Hell,” during which Momsen took some time walking back and forth on the stage to different sides of the crowd, getting them to sing “I’m going to hell” as loudly as possible. Concluding their encore with “Fucked Up World,” with a lengthy drum solo in the middle, the band bowed, thanked the crowd, threw up devil horn hands, and peeled off the stage one by one.

Them Evils offered an unexpected start to the night, but the long hair was much appreciated. Holy White Hounds had a wonderfully quirky and energetic set, perfect to open the night. Headlining the night, The Pretty Reckless had a good performance, but didn’t quite live up to the expectations for a band with that much experience. Older tracks showed off the band’s skill, but some of the newer songs seemed a little out of place with their more experimental sound.

Review by Lulu Dawson
Photos by Neil Lim Sang & Sunny Martini

The Pretty Reckless