The Priscillas are a British all female, power-pop/glam/garage punk band from Holloway, north London, formed in 2003. Kerrang have gone on record stating that “They’re The Cramps,The Shangri-Las, and the New York Dolls all rolled into one” and Youth (of Killing Joke fame) referred to The Priscillas as being “X-Ray Spex meets Go-Go’s”.
The Priscillas have released two singles on Damaged Goods, ‘Gonna Rip Up Your Photograph’, and ‘All My Friends Are Zombies’, along with an EP ‘Aloha From Holloway’ in 2004. They released the single ‘Superhero’ on Dirty Water Records in August 2007, and an album ‘10,000 Volts’ on their own label Nag’s Head Records in February 2009. Last year they released their ‘Angela’ single and their new one, ‘The Dream’ is imminent!
The band, which currently consists of Jenny Drag (vocals), Valkyrie (guitar, bv’s), Taylor (bass, bv’s) and Jola (drums) have in their time toured extensively across the UK, in the US, Spain, France, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Ireland, and Switzerland. They have played at festivals from Benidorm’s Wild Weekend to the Glastonbury Festival, Leeds Carling Weekend, Bestival, The Big Chill, Lost Vagueness, Litfest, Italy’s Festival Beat 15 and Ireland’s Electric Picnic. They have played with bands including The Cramps, The Damned and The 5.6.7.8’s as well as Electric Eel Shock, Art Brut, The Subways, The Rezillos, The Monks; they were once supported by James Blunt.
The band continues to play across the UK and Europe and next week they will be appearing at The Prince Albert courtesy of ‘An Alternative Gathering’ promoters. The actual date is Thursday 28th November and the doors swing open at 8pm. Support on the night will come from Joanna & The Dropouts and also Gripper Lee. Tickets can be snapped up from HERE.
Wanna know what they are like? Well we last caught up with the band at The Prince Albert on 21st June this year, and part of our review reads as follows:
The Priscillas are in fact the second act on the bill tonight and their 10 song set ran from 8:44pm until 9:15pm. The band consists of the aforementioned lead singer Jenny Drag, along with Valkyrie on guitars/vocals, Taylor on bass/vocals, and the one and only Jola on drums, who also happens to be Adam Ant’s drummer, although you wouldn’t necessarily recognise her without her tall blond bouffant bonnet. Thankfully the venue is almost full as the band kick off with the unusual ‘Mystical Shit’ which blends an almost Indian style chant with punk beat, which increases in pace as the song goes along. Track two is the first of four from their ‘10,000 Volts’ long-player, this being ‘(All The Way To) Holloway’ which is a catchy pop punk tune which reminds me of The Photos who were fronted by Wendy Wu whose self-titled album made it to No.4 in the UK Albums Chart back in 1980. I was fortunate to grab myself a copy when released and it had a second disc titled ‘The Blackmail Tapes’, which arguably had better material, although there was controversy at the time as chart return shops were “apparently” targeted in a ticks for cameras scandal.
Track three tonight was ‘Oh Keiko’ which had a Blondie vibe going down. This was followed by the aforementioned new single ‘The Dream’ which Jenny gave a big-up to that nice Mr Garrett. This segued straight into the X-Ray Spex sounding ‘Fly In My Drink’ which was another decent tune. ‘TfL Chris Didn’t Know Liberace Was Gay’ was their next offering and one in which featured Jenny and Valkyrie on joint vocals and some impressive powerful drumming from Jola. This was a really tight number with a 1978 vibe. The swinging pop punk ‘Out Of Your Mind’ was their next selection and yet again another enjoyable number. I was slightly thrown by the beginning of their next live tune, ‘Y.O.Y.’ (as in “why oh why”) on account of Jenny’s vocals sounding like it was actually someone else singing! This was the only track that she sounded different, and it had a faster pace than the previous numbers, which no doubt inspired Jenny to leave the stage for a brief foray into the crowd for some up close and personal encounters. This was for me their best composition thus far!
Their penultimate delivery was the slower ‘Plastic’, which initially had a beat akin to Pil’s ‘Rise’ before it all kicked in and suddenly we were in Pauline Murray’s Penetration territory. This was another decent tune and Jola’s drumming certainly shone through here. They signed off with the aforementioned 2023 single ‘Angela’ which was very well received in subject matter as well as the beat, which for me once more reminded me of The Photos. And that was our lot. It had been a solid set and I wished that they played more local gigs!
