In the recording studio with ‘The Pretty Reckless’

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The Pretty Reckless is not your average rock band if we put aside the leather pants and the smudged eyeliner.

They make the NYC indie kids go gaga with a debut album that is yet to hit music stores and its lead singer Taylor Momsen is the hottest rocker chick on the scene….Skinny, blonde and barely sixteen.

This New York-based MySpace sensation has already scored a major record deal and a main track Make Me Wanna Die featured in the smash box-office hit Kick-Ass movie soundtrack.

The band was formed by Momsen in 2009 and their grungy messy look and sassy sexy lyrics have captured a hipster audience that wants to break free from commercial pop music and the cheesy Hannah Montanas of the industry.

The Pretty Reckless is all about the sex, drugs and rock’n’roll fantasies of any teenager topped with a strong energetic sound and a surprisingly good vocal performance pulled by Momsen. The girl can definitely rock and she makes the most of her scratchy rough voice to turn her audience on.

Their debut single Make Me Wanna Die will have you going crazy on the floor while dancing along to speedy guitars as The Pretty Reckless bring down the house with a grown-up rock sound.
Make Me Wanna Die also serves to showcase Momsen’s talent as a songwriter as she exploits her rocking Lolita attitude to tease her critics and Gossip Girl fans alike.

Indeed this Kick-Ass hit shelves Momsen’s child star image as she sings “Show me all the things that I shouldn’t know.Taste me. Drink my soul.” while wearing suspenders, red lips and fish net tights. Some parents might actually think its time to lock up their daughters and burn their Ipods too.
The reckless playlist continues with a mix of good and bad romances in Blender and He Loves You also written by Momsen as she reads “I’ll make you lalalala lovesick. I don’t lalala like you. I lalala love you. So do you wanna get to know me?” turning Blender into an upbeat rock track that gives Disney’s rocker Demi Lovato a ru n for her money.

However romance turns bittersweet in He Loves You where Momsen pulls off a fantastic vocal performance going from screaming and shouting to whispering in your ear “If he loves you when you’re dead and gone…Kiss a kiss a killer kitty play along”. Fellow band mates Ben Philips, Mark Damon and Jamie Perkins follow Momsen on the guitar, bass and drums respectively.
The band’s darkest track Zombie is an emo anthem in true Paramore style that coud easily make it on the next Twilight Saga soundtrack and have thousands of teens singing along in tears “I’m wandering through existence with no purpose and no drive. To all the people left behind, you’re walking dumb and blind”. Oh yes, adolescence is a pretty rough time.

The Pretty Reckless toured last summer across the United States with rocker twin sisters duo The Veronicas proving that girlie rock can still make it to the top . The band was also named Band of the Day by the Guardian’s music critic Paul Lester and it has already scored a Song of the Day in Fearne Cotton’s BBC Radio 1 music show.

There is no doubt that much of the band’s early success belongs to Momsen who’s a TV star by day and a rock star by night leaving behind her angelic blonde looks to become a hot mess a la Courtney Love.
She brings the hype, the looks and the fame to The Pretty Reckless and tops it off with her own lyrics and her surprisingly good vocals. Who knew a 16-year-old girl could scream like that?
The Gossip Girl has stepped up to her critics to prove that there’s some authenticity to her music even if her lyrics are based for the most part on rock clichés such as rebellion, drugs and crazed up love.

How much can a teen girl with model looks, a hit US show and millions on the bank know about the hard life?
But funnily enough it turns out that Momsen can sing and write catchy songs as a 16-year-old star who aspires to rock on the same league as Juliette Lewis, Shirley Mason and her music heroine Courtney Love.
Love her or hate her, Taylor Momsen is a breath of fresh air amongst a legion of prefabricated pop such as Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus or the Jonas Brothers who dominate the airwaves these days.

The Pretty Reckless tracks include: Heart, Panic, Sleeze Sister, Void & Dull, Ugly People, Good Girls, Bleeding, Superhero and Chaotic Sanity.
The band has signed to Interscope Records and will be realised their full album later in 2010.
source: taylor-momsen.net