“The Pill was started as a joke,” so says Lily Hutchings (vocals/guitar), sitting beside Lottie Massey (vocals/bass), as the best new duo in punk. “We were really bored around our A-levels, and we just thought it’d be funny to make an Instagram account for this band and hide our identities and see if we could get our friends talking about it, like as a joke.”
“Bearing in mind we had not written any music; in fact, I’d never even played guitar,” adds Massey. “And somehow managed to sell out a show, giving us a month to write a full set of songs, and learn how to play instruments.”
As good a place to start as any, and indicative of the appeal of this Isle of Wight band: DIY, cynically carefree and embracing the chaos. They’re funny too. The Standard asks them what they want to achieve with their music… “We’ve always gone for the motto of being loud and annoying,” says Hutchings. “And we’ve achieved that,” adds Massey.
Drawn further — because their songs are full of pithy social and gender takedowns, like Posh which includes the lyrics, “Only date boys who come from money/Oh my gosh, he looks like Bill Murray” — they will confess to messages behind the tracks. “We try to write about things that probably actually make us inherently quite sad, or an issue, but then try and make it funny to deal with it,” says Massey. “Deep down, there’s a serious message to it, but we like to address it in a way that will also make people laugh… some people don’t understand.”
Isle of Wight proved to be a great scene for them, with schoolmates forming bands and a certain can-do attitude, inspired by the likes of Wet Leg, The Slits and Amyl and the Sniffers. Making it to the mainland for a gig was a big deal — “When we played Southampton, we were like, ‘We’ve made it’” — but with this year’s EP (called The EP) and a serious run at the touring schedule, including spots at Isle of Wight festival and Latitude, the word is spreading fast. And winding people up seems to be a major motivation for them.
Says Hutchings, “When our first single Bale of Hay [sample lyric: ‘I’m brassy, fat-arsey, 50 shades of yellow cream hardcore Barbie’] came out, we managed to get ourselves into a social media hell, where we got hate from people. So I thought, right if you think that, I will be that person. So with the new one Posh, we just thought it would be really obnoxious and funny to write about being the worst person ever.”
Next year will be massive for them, with new music planned, piss-takey whispers of a rock opera — “I can play more than one power chord now” — and general mayhem heading your way. As Massey puts it, “Hopefully you’ll laugh at our music. And if you don’t, it’s probably about you.”
The EP by The Pill is out now, thepillband.com
