Start Listening To: The Pill

Prepare to journey into the world of The Pill, where every note is infused with personality, wit, and a healthy dose of jank.

Our latest Q&A is with dynamic duo The Pill. Hailing from the quaint yet musically vibrant Isle of Wight, The Pill is shaking up the scene with their distinctive brand of "jank" punk music. Comprised of Lottie and Lily, this duo brings a fresh perspective to the music industry, blending humor, satire, and raw energy into their songs. In this interview, we delve into the quirky world of The Pill, exploring everything from the inspiration behind their debut single ‘Bale of Hay’ to the creative process that drives their music. Join us as we uncover the stories behind the music, the influences of their island home, and their aspirations for the future.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

We’re The Pill, and we’re from the Isle of Wight! We’ve been creating jank punk music since the beginning of 2019 and drawing inspiration from dire situations like a scaffolder seeing you naked, or the woes of your hair being too blonde.

Congratulations on the release of your debut single ‘Bale of Hay’. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the song and its creation process?

Thank you so much! It’s so mental to have our debut single out in the real world! We actually wrote “Bale of Hay” back in 2019, so it’s been a very long time coming but hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day haha. The whole ethos of The Pill is to be silly and not take ourselves too seriously, and as female musicians to just write about whatever we want to!

We really hope “Bale of Hay” conveys that.

The day “Bale of Hay” was conceived, I (Lottie) had bleached my hair to get it blonde (it was basically falling out it was so dead, thankfully those days are long behind me).

I was joking to Lily about how jealous I was of her golden locks... she turned to me and just said, “It’s not all fun and games, until I was 15 I had no eyebrows.” We just thought that was so ridiculous, and if its ridiculous then it should be a song by The Pill, so we quickly opened up our Notes app on our phones and the rest was history.

We recorded and produced “Bale of Hay” with the wonderful Isle of Wight producers Rob and Jim Homes AKA BoeWeaver at Empire Sound, it was so much fun watching our little blonde firstborn take her first steps in the studio with them.

As a duo from the Isle of Wight, how has your location influenced your music and creative process?

The Isle of Wight is a small but magical place. It has to be, look at what’s come out of it recently, being the likes of Wet Leg, Coach Party, Plastic Mermaids and Lauren Hibberd. Jayden Hitchcock, creator of EarsPeeled, has been a massive asset to the island music scene, consistently putting on incredible shows that we’ve been lucky enough to be part of several times. The Island art scene is so cool and we’re so grateful to be a part of it, it definitely inspires you to keep being creative! Living here is also great as Lily and I are never more than 30 minutes away from each other haha.

You've been described as creating "jank" punk music. What does that term mean to you, and how does it reflect in your sound?

The Collins dictionary states that the word ‘Jank’ is used to “describe anything of poor quality, broken or just rubbish" honestly I feel like that’s a little harsh on us (although we’re sure some people would disagree haha!) so we’ve gone against the dictionary. Jank to us is rough around the edges, imperfect and raw. We’ve always struggled in what genre our music actually is, and we do not mean that in a niche, high-brow way, we’re just two girls writing about whatever we want to and musically that can result in some chaotic combos...When people ask us “What kinda music do you play?” The question is usually followed with “ummmmmm... Not sure”. So, all in all, Jank Punk for us is an umbrella term of all things noisy, messy and fun.

To convey the spirit of jank in our sound, we focus on overdriven guitar, fuzzy bass and unrelenting drums, all packed frenetically into a song that won’t last more than 2 minutes.

What can audiences expect from your live performances, particularly those who might be seeing you for the first time?

Speaking from personal experience, none of our shows are ever really the same, which is great fun, so come to all of them as you’ll never know what to expect haha, we don’t either! But I would say our shows are typically an amalgamation of chaotic, loud, energetic fun, if we do say so ourselves. Get in gear to have a giggle and a wiggle with us.

"Bale of Hay" humorously touches on the stereotypes and experiences associated with being blonde. What was the inspiration behind tackling this topic in your music?

I’m going to pass this one over to Lily, as being a natural brunette I feel it’s not my question to answer haha.
Being blonde is a double entendre; the world expects you to be a sex icon whilst balancing the struggles of never having a tan, and having no eyebrows, and everyone thinks you’re stupid (little do they know you actually are... but they don’t need to know that)! Being a blonde bimbo is hard guys, you just don’t get it.

In all seriousness, as women there is a lot of pressure to act the right way and look the right way, and you can never quite get it right — whatever you do someone will have a problem with it! Our goal with our music is to try and tackle real issues with a big sprinkle of satire and irony. All in all, we want people who listen to our songs to have a giggle and lots of fun, and if you relate to it then that’s great!

Your band name, The Pill, is quite unique. Is there a story behind how you chose it?

There sure is! The Pill could be many things, paracetamol... ibuprofen... maybe even a little something that is illegal, but it's not any of those things, The Pill is the pill, as in the contraceptive pill, to be precise the combined oestrogen-progesterone pill, but that doesn’t really have quite the same ring to it. None of us are actually on ‘the pill’ as it made us spotty and bloated. We chose that name as we personally found it funny, which is the general consensus behind everything we do. But as a female band who like to write about issues that a lot of other women experience, we thought The Pill deemed appropriate. The pill sucks? Right girls? Not us though.

How do you approach songwriting as a duo? Do you each have specific roles in the process, or is it more collaborative?

Our writing process is definitely as chaotic as everything else that is “The Pill”. Normally writing a song starts with one of us saying something funny or having some weird life experience (that is probably best actually being forgotten) and the other one going “omg write that down”. Due to this spontaneous creative energy, we always start with lyrics first and then work to put an instrumental to the ideas. Our drummer, Rufus, is a monumental part of our songwriting too, as he is a musical powerhouse. Typically, our songwriting is very collaborative, but it usually starts with either a lyrical or musical idea coming from one of us, and then we all develop it together. It’s also just so much fun writing songs with your best friends, we recommend it.

With your debut single out and more shows lined up, what are your goals and aspirations for The Pill in the near future?

Getting on the road and playing more live shows is a big goal for us. Festival season is coming round the corner soon, so we would love to be part of that during the summer months. Other than that, maybe we’re cooking up a few more songs... You’ll all just have to wait and see what we have in store hehe.

What do you love right now?

The response to our debut single has honestly been so cool, seeing lots of other girls finding our song relatable and funny has been so rewarding. Seeing a small, hopefully growing, community of women with shared experiences and like-minds all together enjoying something fun is so great. We love you girls!

In other news, Lily is really digging Lidl yoghurt pouches (peach flavour only).

What do you hate right now?

The middle-aged men currently residing angrily in our instagram comment section.

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?

It’s kinda left field to what people would probably expect from us, but ‘II’ by Unknown Mortal Orchestra is such a special album to Lily and I. It is one of the main reasons that we became best friends, almost 10 years ago, that’s so crazy, love you girl! When we were doing our GCSE’s we were both obsessed with the album and bonded over it whilst crying about our chemistry revision, or lack there of. It’s also just so good. Great songs and fond memories of best-friendship blossoming? What more could you want from an album.