By: Kat Harlton
Pretty Archie is a Canadiana band from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Long time friends Brian Cathcart (Lead Vocals, Guitar), Matt McNeil (Mandolin, Guitar), Colin Gillis (Harmonica, Bass, Vocals), Redmond MacDougall (Banjo, Percussion, Vocals) and recently added Scott MacLean (Guitar, Mandolin) make up the band. Always jamming together growing up, they guys decided in 2012 to form a band. The band chose the name Pretty Archie after a local (Cape Breton) character known for playing with 2 strings outside shopping malls in any weather and not always (or ever) in key. The guys thought the name Pretty Archie embodied the love of playing and performing music along with representing their hometown.
We had the opportunity to catch up with Pretty Archie and discuss their new music video for ‘Stay The Same’, musical influences and what’s next.
Kat: Can you tell us a little bit about Pretty Archie and its musical style, influences etc?
Pretty Archie: Pretty Archie is a 5 man group of Cape Bretoners – we call our sound Sea-Billy Rock, its got a little bit of Bluegrass Country and Trad in there and we like to keep things up-beat! We grew up listening to all different kinds of music some in our back yard some far away and we do what we can to meet in the middle and have some fun
Kat: You recently released a music video ‘Stay The Same’. Can you talk about the inspiration behind the track, and how if any, that influcenced or inspired the music video?
Pretty Archie: Stay the same is based off real life for us – It’s about having a friend or loved one and even though you don’t get to see them all the time you can just pick up right where you left off when you do get back together, I think we all have a friend or two like that and yeah getting together brings back that nostalgic feeling. The vintage looking animation on the video and the dukes of hazard scene make the video kind of nostalgic too so we feel they are connected in that way
Kat: Can you talk about the band’s songwriting process?
Pretty Archie: Our process is usually the same – we get together with an idea for a song and since there are 5 of us all around the same age its easy to come up with the details. our first single This Whole Town is about a couple trying to get out of their home town – on to greener pastures and then realizing that maybe they should stay and try and fix the problems instead of running away. Several of us in the band have done that exact thing so it makes the details ring true because of the experience. So when we travel through small town Saskatchewan or even when we played in Denmark and Germany there were many “small town” people that were having the same struggles that easily connect with our music.
Kat: What’s on your playlist?
Pretty Archie: Our playlist varies we all have different bands we really love and bands we can all agree on – We love talk radio and usually meet in the middle with that for long trips, Howard Stern is a band favorite but late at night depending who is driving there will be anything from Dawes to Tribe from Elvis to The Weakerthans Old Bob Dylan or some vocal acrobatics from Brandi Carlile. Some guys even get the Stompin’ Tom and Stan Rogers out on those long ones.
Kat: What’s next?
Pretty Archie: We plan to tour our new record Hanging on and Get everyone we can to come see us live. Our live show is energetic and makes you want to dance and sing and have fun so we like to put our best foot forward. You can check out our website www.Prettyarchie.com for concert dates and details or follow us on social media – Facebook and Instagram @Prettyarchieband to find a Live Show near you!
For more on Pretty Archie, please visit: https://www.prettyarchie.com