The Pretty Reckless Artistfacts

2009-
Taylor MomsenLead vocals, rhythm guitar2009-
Ben PhillipsLead guitar2010-
Mark DamonBass2010-
Jamie PerkinsDrums2010-
The Pretty Reckless is a New York rock band that was formed and is fronted by Gossip Girl actress Taylor Momsen.
On starting Pretty Reckless, Taylor Monsen told Sebastiano Mereu of From Hero To Zero: "For me, music is - I say a 'passion,' but it's more than a passion, it's my identity. I've been writing songs and singing and playing guitar since my birth. I've been humming melodies since I was a child, so it was something I always did. I was in different bands. When I met this band, when I met Ben [Phillips] first and we started writing together, there was a magic 'click' there. It wasn't really a choice. It was out of desperation, the need to play music."
Their debut single, "Make Me Wanna Die," featured in the end credits of the movie Kick-Ass.
On October 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey. The storm ravaged Water Music Recording Studios in Hoboken, where The Pretty Reckless had been recording their second album and wiped out the majority of the band's gear as well as a batch of demos and near-completed recordings. As a result they had to re-record a lot of songs they had been working on.
Taylor Momsen's first acting job was at the age of three when she appeared in a 1997 national commercial for Shake 'n Bake.
When Taylor Momsen is not touring, she likes just to relax at home. Asked by Loudwire what her interests are, she replied:

"I love comedy. I watch a lot of late-night. Larry David is like my go to. He's the Beatles of comedy. Louis CK is great. Katt Williams, Marc Maron. I watch television and comedians. I paint, I sculpt and play music. Playing music isn't a job. Touring is a job but playing music is a pleasure and a privilege."
Momsen was bullied for her role as Cindy Lou Who in the 2000 film How the Grinch Stole Christmas. "The Grinch changed my life in a multitude of ways - one of them being, I was made fun of relentlessly," she revealed on the Podcrushed podcast with her former Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley. "Every time I would start a new school or go somewhere else, I don't even think the kids knew my name. I was just Grinch Girl. Not even the character name, just Grinch Girl. I got used to it, but it was alienating."
While working on the follow-up to Death by Rock and Roll, Momsen told her agent not to book any more shows "unless AC/DC or the Rolling Stones call." It was just a joking, sky-high threshold for interrupting studio time, until two weeks later when AC/DC actually DID call. A week after that, her agent rang again to say the Rolling Stones wanted her band to open a show in Las Vegas before flying straight to Germany to start the AC/DC tour.

That meant The Pretty Reckless played with the Rolling Stones and AC/DC in the same week - in stadiums - forcing Momsen to put a "perfectly flowing" recording session on hold.
The Pretty Reckless take a long time to make albums because Momsen is a perfectionist. Even when songs come quickly, she keeps reworking them until they feel right. She told Zach Sang that studio time for her isn't assembly line recording, it's waiting for "magic" that "can't be duplicated, replicated, or crafted."
Having worked continuously from a young age, Taylor Momsen learned early on to find solace within her own mind. She often turns to crocheting as a way to relax and stay grounded. "I find it meditative. I crochet for an hour and think in silence or with music," she said during an appearance on SiriusXM's Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk. "And that's a break. [Laughs] And it works for me. So I'm cool with that."

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