In the midst of the seemingly never-ending hiatus from One Direction, a new boy band has emerged from the brilliant mind of Simon Cowell once again.
We met with PRETTYMUCH at Kellogg’s NYC headquarters where they introduced their yummy new record, satisfying your taste for new music and hunger with their edible chocolate cereal record! Meet, PRETTYMUCH.
The Knockturnal: How do you guys feel about having your record on a chocolate cereal record?!
Brandon Arreaga: It’s freaking crazy! One for the books! First ever cereal record vinyl ever. So I’m glad to be a part of history *laughs*
The Knockturnal: How did this idea come about?
Brandon Arreaga: Basically our team [connected] with Kellogg’s it was an idea that was floating around and if we could execute it would be totally insane. So we got Tony [the tiger] on the thing [music video]. We also have a regular vinyl that comes with it so when you get this you get the regular vinyl and the chocolate one.
The Knockturnal: Congrats on the EP guys!
PRETTYMUCH: Thank you!
The Knockturnal: What’s your favorite song so far on the EP?
PRETTYMUCH: “On my Way!?
Zion Kuwonu: “On My Way” is my favorite for sure!
The Knockturnal: Why?
Zion Kuwonu: Cause we recorded it like probably over a year ago and since that day I’ve just been like,”Yo we need to get this out, we need to get this out!”, and now it’s out!
Brandon Arreaga: And this is our first sad or more emotional song. All the other songs have been happier, singing about cool stuff but this is the first time our lyrics were driven on “My girl is with someone else.”
The Knockturnal: How long did it take you guys to make the EP?
Edwin Honoret: Some if the songs were recorded earlier that others, some we just finished recording. It didn’t take that long to realize what songs we actually wanted on the EP, but once we had it we were able to switch it around easily.
The Knockturnal: And you guys were each pursuing solo careers before?
Brandon Arreaga: Some were.
Austin Porter: I was, but I don’t like talking about it.
The Knockturnal: You guys all got paired together then?
Brandon Arreaga: By Simon himself!
The Knockturnal: How did that work? You guys just got the call?
Nick Mara: What happened was we had a bunch of Sony reps and flew to New York for an audition and Simon was able to talk to us and then from there we started singing and figured out a good base and kept it contact. After we moved out to LA.
Zion Kuwonu: March 18, 2016!
The Knockturnal: Did any of you guys not get along when you first started?
Zion Kuwonu: Me and Austin didn’t get along.
Austin Porter: Me and Zion didn’t like each other but now we’re gucci.
Zion Kuwonu: We’re gucci like the shirt with the snakes on it!
The Knockturnal: How are you guys liking LA?
Nick Mara: For me weather determines my mood a lot of the time and the sun is great.
Zion Kuwonu: LA is the spot for me
The Knockturnal: You guys each can dance and sing. Do you think you enjoy the dancing or singing aspect of it more?
PRETTYMUCH: They’re so different.
Brandon Arreaga: The only reason I would put singing slightly above is because it takes less energy. With dancing, you get sweaty and tired and it’s cardio. Singing can just be sitting doing whatever.
Austin Porter: I would pick dancing because if I scream too much the night before I don’t have to worry about my voice. So it’s a plus of dancing.
The Knockturnal: And you guys are going on tour with Khalid?
Brandon Arreaga: Yeah it’s crazy he was at our house a couple of months ago and we were watching a recap of the Jack & Jack tour and he was staring at the screen and halfway he was like,”Come on tour with me!” I’m all,”Really?” And he was like,”Yeah, really.” And the next week it was a thing.
The Knockturnal: Were you guys fans before?
Brandon Arreaga: Yes!
Austin Porter: I love “Location” I was listening to it on SoundCloud before Kylie [Jenner] posted it.
The Knockturnal: What’s your favorite song?
Brandon Arreaga: Mine is the one with Marshmello. OTW, it comes out tomorrow but he sent it to us before. He sends us songs all the time, we send him songs all the time, a friendly exchange.
The Knockturnal: How did you guys start talking?
Edwin Honoret: We ran into him at iHeart and we were staying at the same hotel and we walked in together. We were just talking and that was like the second time we met him but the first time we met at a Calvin Harris get together, he was there. Through mutual friends and connections, we finally sat down and said,”let’s hangout”.
The Knockturnal: And you guys went to Coachella last weekend, how was that?
PRETTYMUCH: So fun!
Nick Mara: We actually took an RV to Coachella and it was just dope we really bonded *laughs*
The Knockturnal: I’m sure. How long was that drive?
Nick Mara: Two hours and a half
The Knockturnal: Who was your favorite artist you saw?
PRETTYMUCH: Miguel!
Nick Mara: Miguel, I think we can all say that.
Brandon Arreaga: Oh, and Beyoncé! Beychella all the way!
Austin Porter: Post Malone
The Knockturnal: Did you guys end up missing anyone?
Edwin Honoret: We ended up missing like Beyoncé, the full thing. They shut down everything do draw the attention to her. Everyone at Coachella was watching Beyoncé. We had a limited view. So I was like,” You know what? I can listen to it from a distance”, and I was watching it on the screen.
The Knockturnal: You guys aren’t going to weekend two?
Brandon Arreaga: Nope.
Nick Mara: Weekend one was enough.
The Knockturnal: What’s your favorite song that you guys are listening to right now?
Austin Porter and Brandon Arreaga: “Nice for what”
Austin Porter: I would say “Nice for What” and “BoomTrap” by Logic/
Brandon Arreaga: I would say PRETTYMUCH and EP, out everywhere. *laughs*
Nick Mara: Plug Walk, Rich the Kid
The Knockturnal: And lastly, if you weren’t in music what would you be doing?
Brandon Arreaga: I’d still be doing music somewhere.
Nick Mara: I’d probably be going to music school
Zion Kuwonu: I would be in college for film or something. It’s something I wanted to pursue in high school, I wanted to be a filmmaker. I thought that was the safe route. Safer than singing.
Austin Porter: In a perfect dream world, I would’ve become a voice actor for like animation and stuff like that.
The Knockturnal: Hey, you can still do it the dream isn’t dead yet! Thanks so much, guys!
PRETTYMUCH: Thank you!
