Pretty Girls Make Graves was a

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band formed in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in 2001, named after

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...

' song of the same name (which itself was named after a quote from

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

's ''

The Dharma Bums ''The Dharma Bums'' is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. The basis for the novel's semi-fictional accounts are events occurring years after the events of ''On the Road''. The main characters are the narrator Ray Smith, based on ...

''). Andrea Zollo and Derek Fudesco had played together previously in The Hookers, as well as The Death Wish Kids and Area 51 along with Dann Gallucci, with whom Derek had formed

Murder City Devils The Murder City Devils is an American garage rock band formed in 1996. History The band's original lineup, consisting of Spencer Moody, Dann Gallucci, Derek Fudesco, Coady Willis, and Nate Manny, formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1996. Gabe Ker ...

. Not long before the Murder City Devils disbanded, Derek and Andrea formed Pretty Girls Make Graves along with Jay, Nick and Nathan. They played the

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. ...

in 2004. The band announced its split on January 29, 2007,Pretty Girls Make Graves Split.
Posted January 29, 2007. with their final two shows taking place in Seattle that June.

History

The band released their first EP on

Dim Mak The touch of death (or death-point striking) refers to any martial arts technique reputed to kill using seemingly less than lethal force targeted at specific areas of the body. The concept known as ''dim mak'' (), alternatively ' () traces its ...

and Sound Virus Records before releasing their debut album ''

Good Health ''Good Health'' is the first studio album by Pretty Girls Make Graves. Originally released in 2002 by Lookout Records, it was re-released by Matador Records with an additional 4 songs made up of the band's first self-titled EP. This album is oft ...

'' on

Lookout Records Lookout Records (stylized as Lookout! Records) was an independent record label, initially based in Laytonville, California and later in Berkeley, California, Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having ...

in April 2002. The band would later sign to

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apart ...

where they released ''

The New Romance ''The New Romance'' is the second studio album from Pretty Girls Make Graves, released on September 9, 2003 on the label Matador Records. Track listing Personnel *Andrea Zollo – vocals *Nick Dewitt – drums, samples, keyboards, vocals *De ...

'', and then later '' Elan Vital''. Guitarist Nathan Thelen left Pretty Girls Make Graves in March 2004 to form Moonrats and Leona Marrs (formerly of HintHint) joined as a multi-instrumentalist. On January 29, 2007, the band announced that Nick had left the band and their May 2007 tour would be their last.

Members

* Andrea Zollo – vocals (2001–2007) * Derek Fudesco – bass, vocals (2001–2007) *

J. Clark Jason Crowe Clark is an American musician from Minneapolis, Minnesota who became well known after moving to Seattle, Washington.Cook, Cameron (2003), 'SUP magazine, July 8, 2003 He has played guitar in Pretty Girls Make Graves, and Killsadie, as w ...

– guitar, keyboards, samples, vocals (2001–2007) * Nick Dewitt – drums, samples, keyboards, trumpet, vocals (2001–2007) * Nathan Thelen – guitar, vocals (2001–2004) * Leona Marrs – keyboards, accordion, vocals (2004–2007)

Post-breakup

J. Clark formed

Jaguar Love Jaguar Love was an American post-punk band formed in Portland, Oregon in 2007. It was composed of former members of The Blood Brothers. History The band was formed by members of the bands Blood Brothers and Pretty Girls Make Graves.Lester, Paul ...

with former Blood Brothers members

Johnny Whitney Johnny Whitney (born June 28, 1981) is a singer, author and multi-instrumentalist from Seattle. He is probably most well known for his vocals and keyboarding alongside Jordan Blilie in the post-hardcore band, The Blood Brothers. He is also the ...

and

Cody Votolato Cody Votolato (born 20 May 1982) is a musician from Redmond, Washington, best known for being the guitarist in the post-hardcore band The Blood Brothers. He grew up in the eastside suburbs of Seattle. Cody attended Redmond High School with hi ...

. Clark is the drummer in the band. Jaguar Love signed with

,Pitchfork: Jaguar Love (ex-PGMG, Blood Brothers) Sign to Matador
former home of Pretty Girls Make Graves. On February 18, 2009, it was announced Jay was no longer playing in the line up of Jaguar Love, being replaced with a drum machine on that tour. Nick Dewitt continues working on his solo electronic project Dutch Dub. He also plays with Amy Blaschke in Night Canopy. Derek Fudesco formed

The Cave Singers The Cave Singers is an American band from Seattle, Washington. Composed of former members of Pretty Girls Make Graves after its disbandment in 2007, former PGMG-member Derek Fudesco teamed up with Pete Quirk (of Hint Hint) and Marty Lund (of Cobra ...

with Pete Quirk of Hint Hint and Marty Lund of Cobra High. Soon after leaving Pretty Girls Make Graves, Nathan Thelen started Moonrats in Seattle together with keyboard player Aska Matsumiya and drummer Jason Echeverria. They moved to Los Angeles and released an EP on their own. They put out a full-length and a 7" on LA Record in 2008. Andrea Zollo plays drums with Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death, and also sings in Deep Creep with Derek Fudesco. She currently works as a hairstylist in Seattle. Leona Marrs is an LAC in Los Angeles. The band's song "Something Bigger, Something Brighter" from ''The New Romance'' was featured in the video game ''

Rock Band 3 ''Rock Band 3'' is a 2010 music video game developed by Harmonix. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, in late October 2010. Mad Catz took over both roles and re-released the title on N ...

''. Nathan Thelen has a new band, Drug Cabin, with Marcus Congleton ex of Ambulance Ltd and they released two albums in early 2015 on 401K Music Inc.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

'' (2002,

Lookout A lookout or look-out is a person in charge of the observation of hazards. The term originally comes from a naval background, where lookouts would watch for other ships, land, and various dangers. The term has now passed into wider parlance. ...

) * ''

'' (2003,

Matador A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...

) * ''

Élan Vital ''Élan vital'' () is a term coined by French philosopher Henri Bergson in his 1907 book '' Creative Evolution'', in which he addresses the question of self-organisation and spontaneous morphogenesis of things in an increasingly complex manner. ...

'' (2006,

)

Singles and EPs

* ''Pretty Girls Make Graves'' EP (2001,

) * ''More Sweet Soul'' b/w ''If You Hate Your Friends, You're Not Alone'' (2001,

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

) * ''Sad Girls Por Vida'' b/w ''The Getaway'' (2002, Sound Virus) * ''By The Throat'' b/w ''Ghosts In The Radio'' & ''More Sweet Soul'' (2002, Hand Held Heart) * ''Speakers Push the Air'' b/w ''Bring It On Golden Pond'' & ''If You Hate Your Friends, You're Not Alone'' (2002,

) * ''This Is Our Emergency'' (2002,

) * ''All Medicated Geniuses'' b/w ''C-30 C-60 C-90 GO!'' & ''Magic Lights'' (2003,

) * ''Pyrite Pedestal'' b/w ''The Lament of St. Bernadette'' (2006,

) * ''Live Session EP'' (2006,

)

Videography

* ''Speakers Push the Air'' (2002) * ''This Is Our Emergency'' (2003) * ''All Medicated Geniuses'' (2003) * ''The Nocturnal House'' (2006)

References

External links

PGMG on Matador Records

interview at www.deathrockstar.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pretty Girls Make Graves (Band) Musical groups from Seattle Musical groups established in 2001 Musical groups disestablished in 2007 2001 establishments in Washington (state)