Emerging Artist Of The Month: The Pill

This month's Emerging Artist is a charismatic band gaining serious momentum after recently releasing a track four years in the making.

The Pill — Lily, Lottie and Rufus — joined Isle of Wight Radio for a conversation about captivating debut single 'Bale of Hay', their mainland gig misadventures and plenty more besides.

First off, does the band name ‘The Pill’ have any significant meaning behind it?

We came up with the name before we came up with much else, so we thought 'what’s the most girl punk name we could come up with and something every girl hates?'

The main irony is that we’ve never been on the pill!

We thought it was something funny and a lot of our songs are female orientated, so the name continued with the theme.

How did the three of you join forces to form the band?

Rufus and Lottie are cousins, and Lottie and Lily met at school as teenagers – we’re on a solid ten-year streak and haven’t killed each other yet.

We’ve never even had a fight…. Probably because we’re weak and deeply afraid of confrontation!

Did you always know you wanted to be a band?

GCSEs got in the way of it, we had to overcome that hurdle!

Rufus has been playing drums since he was about two, Lottie watched School of Rock when she was 12 and it changed her life – she decided to play bass.

Lily played the flute and piano, and decided to learn the guitar for the band.

Your debut single, Bale of Hay, has caught fire really quickly  – how have you dealt with that sudden attention?

We didn’t expect it to take off.

The first few days when it happened were like ‘what is going on?’

We wrote it a long time ago — four years or so — and it’s developed a lot since we started working with Boe Weaver at Empire and they’ve helped it develop.

I remember when Lily and I were sat on the floor and she was talking about having no eyebrows, we thought it was funny and wrote it down as potential future lyrics.

It’s been so long since then that Lottie’s blonde hair has grown out – she’s a brunette now after realising blonde is a hard life!

You don’t want to look at our notes, it’s carnage, but all of those ideas have led to the single becoming a reality.

For people who haven’t heard your music, how would you describe what they’re in for?

Chaos!

We like to describe it as 'jank' punk, because it feels arrogant saying it’s a proper genre.

It’s a crazy, loud, silly, goofy, fun time with a lot of loud guitars behind it.

There are a load of in-between chats on stage where we have to give context to our songs!

What can people expect from one of your live gigs?

Definitely go to one of our live shows, it’s very different to our recorded stuff.

We always have a crazy story that comes out of our shows — the last time we played, in London, our car got hit by a massive lorry on the M25.

So we had to get out at 1am in high heels and skirts and we were thinking “this is how we're going to die”.

Another time, we went up 'north' – Lily’s car broke down, a bag got stolen one week... We can't leave this little bubble, it’s dangerous on those streets!

Every time we play, we feel like our gig is prefaced with a story of how we got there. It’s like a female Spinal Tap – we just need a mini–Stone Henge!

Who are your music influences?

We love the Slits, ESG and the Beastie Boys – who are Lottie’s diehard passion!

Riot girls and a lot of other girl bands from the 60s are also up there, and bands like Tenacious D and electo-band Le Tigre as well.

What’s been the highlight of your music journey so far?

Supporting Big Special in Oxford was fun, we got so excited that we went through our set in about 15 minutes.

The Field Festival in Porchfield was our first gig with Rufus as our drummer.

That one was on the bed of a truck post-Covid lockdowns, we hadn’t gigged for two years, and Plastic Mermaids invited us to perform there.

Is there any footage of that gig?

We’ve banned it from being played out loud, but there’s probably something floating about...We’ll have to send a cease and desist order out!

Which other Isle of Wight musicians would you recommend people check out?

There are the obvious ones – Coach Party, Lauran Hibberd, Wet Leg.

There are loads of others as well though, with the likes of Froglands PK, Ugly Ozo and Jaden Hitchcock.

The music scene on the Island is so cool, it’s amazing to see your mates doing such great stuff.

Lauran Hibberd (L), Ugly Ozo (Top, R) and Froglands PK (Bottom R - credit Gerry Burton)

Do you think there's suddenly a kudos to being a musician from the Isle of Wight?

Yeah, it’s suddenly caught fire and people are interested in what’s happening over here.

Where can people find you online or keep up to date with The Pill?

Manic May is coming up – we’ve just played Southampton, London this Friday, then back to Southampton to support Girl Band and back to London.

We’ve got gigs planned for June and July that we’ll hopefully announce soon.

I feel like we’ve got to head north next – don’t get me wrong, London is north to us – but maybe we'll branch out to Birmingham and beyond soon.

We’re just not sure the Fiat can handle it unless we strap Rufus to the roof with his drumkit!

Will you be driving there again after your recent adventures?

We're now terrified!

There’s a lot of talk behind the scenes of finally getting a van.

How can people find out more about you online?

We've got our official website, and everything else is The Pill Band, including Instagram and YouTube.

We might start uploading a bit more - Lily desperately wants to do a cooking video, so watch this space!
 

Previous Emerging Artists

November 2022: Josh White

December 2022: Phoenix Lopes

January 2023: Meg Rasmussen

February 2023: Ben Stubbs

March 2023: Tink Beadle

April 2023: Luna Carina

May 2023: Jay Eatwell

June 2023: The Optimists

July 2023: Amy Joliffe

Jan 2024: Olivia Cure

March 2024: Ruby

April 2024: Jazah