THIRD time’s the charm .. one band loves touring so much they’re preparing for their third Reading appearance this year.
Pet Needs is returning to The Face Bar on Thursday, November 30, having already given sets for February’s Independent Venue Week and the Are You Listening? Festival in May.
This time, it’s a chance to celebrate their second album, Primetime Entertainment – something that the lockdown phase of the covid pandemic helped with.
“We’d been together since 2016, we were having fun with it, a punk band playing punk shows to our friends,” says Johnny Marriott, singer, songwriter, guitarist.
The band also features Johnny’s brother George Marriott on guitar, Rich Gutierrez on bass and Jack Lock on drums.
“At the start of 2020, we didn’t know if we were going to carry on as a band. But we thought we’d throw everything at recording an album.”
The resulting album was Fractured Party Music, and some of the songs such as Toothpaste and Tracey Emin’s Bed were written just two weeks before recording.
Strewn with social commentary, the frenetic, kerosene-blanched songs flayed modern living, leaving it exposed and fully-examined in catharsis. It hit more than a few searing chords and found its way to the ears of independent label Xtra Mile Recordings who promptly signed the band and released it in March 2021.
The band’s humble nature meant that what came next went beyond all expectations. Starting with a few socially distanced acoustic shows with Frank Turner and other labelmates, it was the most people they’d played to – albeit sitting in painted circles separately – 600 people in a field fit for 10,000.
As shows started to open up again, Pet Neds embraced life like it was on the verge of ending again. Their headline shows gradually grew in size; they landed support slots with The Hives and Skinny Lister and recorded their second album with Frank Turner producing.
Further dedicating his unwavering support, Frank then invited the band to join him on his worldwide tour. The band dutifully accepted.
The first half of 2022 has already included the vast European tour taking in Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria and more-winning over rooms of Frank fans everywhere they went.
“We want to keep that DIY ethic,” says Johnny. “Because these are our first tours, I want to properly live it. I want to understand what we’re doing completely, and what everyone else is doing. We’ve jumped to doing these big tours when we haven’t properly toured before, so we’ve still got to pay our dues, lug our amps and sell our merch.”
Pet Needs, Johnny says, are filled with purpose: “We’re having the best time. Just being able to wake up and be creative every day is really amazing.
“Psychologically, I’m in the best place I’ve ever been in, which is a real blessing.”
It’s clear on their second album ‘Primetime Entertainment’ how true that is. Written and recorded in the 11 months after signing with Xtra Mile, their second mirrors Johnny’s state of mind, more than even he fathomed at first.
“This is a much deeper, personal album. It talks about me being quite self-destructive and recognising where I need to get better in myself. I thought I was writing a record that was about partying and I didn’t realise until we sat down and listened to the album from start to finish.”
It’s hard to believe when the songs so deftly deal with fear, fatigue, adrenaline, failing and determination.
But the music intuitively responds to the words, every screech, grind and melodic run laced with real-life experience thanks to the band’s insightful and instinctive musicality, so perhaps it was this that so floored the songwriter, a vision he hadn’t thought he’d had.
The band will be at The Face Bar on Thursday, November 30, in a gig arranged by Club Velocity. Tickets are available by searching www.wegottickets.com for Pet Needs.
