The limits of control.

Hello, upper east siders! Spotted: Little J releasing a record with her band, The Pretty Reckless. The biggest surprise? It’s actually good. Xoxo.

IN A CORNER booth at Remedy Diner on New York City’s Lower East Side, the same place we met six months ago for her NYLON Japan cover story, Taylor Momsen sips from a steaming skim latte, her long, center-parted blond hair shrouding most of her face. The first time, we shared cheese fries while she talked candidly about her acting career and bubbled over with excitement when the conversation turned toward her band, the Pretty Reckless, and their forthcoming record, which was still very much “in the works”. Now the as-yet-untitled album is set to come out this summer, and it’s the reason that we’re meeting again in the same booth, at the same diner, with another order of cheese fries.

This time, Momsen, Who says she has “absolutely” fulfilled the hopes she had for the album, is joined by her guitarist, Ben Phillips (bassist Mark Damon and drummer Jamie Perkins are absent). “She was completely in charge from one end to the other”, says Phillips, who co-wrote the record with her. “She’s very diligent – one might use the word pedantic at points. We could spend 18 hours editing a track. She truly doesn’t know the meaning of downtime”. At this, Momsen smirks contentedly.

Lots of thing – big and small – have changed since our last meeting: In addition to finishing the recording, Momsen just shot her first music video and assembled a permanent band that will accompany her on this summer’s Warped Tour. Also new are her “fucking cool John Lennon sunglasses”, behind which her heavily lined and shadowed lids are barely visible. She says they were her dad’s and that she likes them a lot, and I believe her because she opts to wear them for the entirety of our conversation.

“[The album is about] sex and drugs and religion and politics and arguments”, explains Momsen, dipping a fry in ketchup and popping it into her mouth. “But whatever I felt when I was writing it isn’t what I need people to get out of it, exactly. Whatever they want to take from it is what the songs are about. My intention doesn’t really matter”: Momsen cities Oasis, the Beatles, and Audioslave as longtime musical influences but adds that her producer introduces her to Marilyn Manson during the recording process. After announcing this, she chants a string of lyrics from Manson’s “This Is The New Shit” and falls back into the booth, giggling.

On the album’s first single, “You Make Me Wanna Die”, Momsen’s voice growls over dense guitars (“Take me, I’m alive / Never was a girl with a wicked mind”) but switches to a haunting purr for the bridge: “I can see your eyes / Your eyes”. “This is he first time ever that I’ve been able to choose the people I’m working with”, she says. “When you’re an actress, you’re chosen for a role. It’s hard to find people who can reflect your vision and make it come to life”. For Momsen, it was essential that she be able to pick her producers and have creative control of her videos. “Otherwise I wouldn’t do it”, she explains. “I’d rather put it out myself than have people (at a label) dictate what my songs are going to sound like. Fuck that: I’m the artist”.

It’s been a painstaking process for Momsen, but she says the long hours were nothing new and ultimately satisfying. “It just feels like a success to finish it”, she says. “Past that, it’s all really kind of bullshit. If you’re in this for record sales and fame, then you don’t really like music”. So how did Momsen celebrate once the album was finished? “Those are things”, she answers coyly, “that I don’t say in magazines”.

Thanks so much to Septimiu for the magazine scans.

GALLERY LINK
Magazine Scans » Nylon June / July 2010

Having made a name for himself back in the ’90s in U.S. teen drama My So Called Life, Jared Leto is now ranked among the most iconic rock stars of our era. So while you may not have heard of The Pretty Reckless yet, the band’s 16-year-old singer Taylor Momsen could well be set to follow in the 30 Seconds To Mars frontman’s footsteps.

In case you’ve been living on another plane for the past three years, Taylor is one of the stars of hit U.S. TV show Gossip Girl. However,like Jared, her true passion has always been music.
“Making a record is more than a dream of mine, it’s a need and necessity” she states with disarming sincerity. “I’ve been writing songs since I was five, and no matter how big our record becomes, I just want to play and sing and write.”

Listing their influences as Courtney Love, Nirvana and Led Zeppelin, The Pretty Reckless completed by guitarist Ben Phillips, bassist Mark Damon and drummer Jamie Perkins – recorded their forthcoming debut album last year with producer Kato Khandwala, who has previously worked with All Time Low, Paramore and Madina Lake. With the prontwoman’s filming commitments taking up a lot of her time, the record became a true labour of love.

“I’d be shooting all day and the going to work on the record starting at midnight until five in the morning,” says Taylor. “It was spread out over a year, and when we finished it really was a case of ‘Wow, the record’s done, finally!’.”

The World’s first taster of The Pretty Reckless takes the form of their gritty, snarling new single Make Me Wanna Die, taken from the recent Kick-Ass soundtrack.
Having racked up an impressive number of plays on big name radio stations around the globe, the band are determined to make their dream of rock stardom a reality.

“We’re playing the whole of the Warped Tour, and I’m going to work around my filming schedule so we can tour as much as is physically possible”, Taylor enthuses. “We want to play to the UK so badly, I cannot tell you! Our favourite bands are English so we can’t wait to come over!”

Thank so much to Ray for the magazine scan :)

GALLERY LINK
Magazine Scans » Kerrang Magazine – May 2010

I’m so glad to announce that our gallery is finally back. I’ve worked really hard, I had to reupload almost 9,000 pictures but I’m happy and proud of my self. Taylor Daily is still alive!!
I also added the second bunch of screencaps from the second season of Gossip Girl, an old photoshoot and two new scans from “Glamour France” May issue.

Make sure you check out the gallery :)

GALLERY LINK
View All » Last Uploads

The first bunch of screencaps from the second season of Gossip Girl has been added to the gallery (thanks to oTTo). I also added 4 high quality scans of Taylor andt he rest of the Gossip Girl cast from “UK Glamour Magazine” April issue (thanks again to Ray for sharing with us).
Don’t forget to check them out.

GALLERY LINKS
Magazine Scans » UK Glamour – April 2010
Gossip Girl » Season 2 » Screencaps