NEWS

The Pretty Flowers To Release New Album On March 27; Share New Single And Video “Convent Walls”

Photo by Sami Drasin

Los Angeles-based band The Pretty Flowers are excited to share their new single “Convent Walls” and its accompanying music video, directed and edited by the band’s Sean Christopher Johnson. The song is the final pre-release single to be released from their anticipated new album Never Felt Bitter, out March 27 via Chicago’s Forge Again Records (pre-order).

On the song, vocalist and guitarist Noah Green says, “On ‘Convent Walls’ I was inspired by a song of the same name that I love from the mid-80s by the Australian band The Triffids. Incredibly, it seems it was only released as a b-side on a single for their cover of William Bell’s ‘You Don’t Miss Your Water (Till Your Well Runs Dry).’ It’s really worth seeking out if you haven’t heard it. I don’t think The Pretty Flowers song ‘Convent Walls’ sounds like that song much at all, but I really liked the convent walls imagery and borrowed the song title to create something new. Our friend Joy Deyo from the amazing Long Beach band Sweet Nobody sang backup on the track. Joy has one of my favorite voices in the world and from the start of working on Never Felt Bitter I wanted to find a good song for her voice to appear. Once ‘Convent Walls’ came into the picture, it seemed like that was the perfect spot.

The Pretty Flowers are also announcing tour dates in California in support of Never Felt Bitter. The band will be playing in San Diego, El Cerrito, Petaluma, Merced, San Francisco and Ojai. The band has a Los Angeles Record Release Show taking place on March 27 at Healing Force of The Universe in Pasadena. Tickets for the show are on sale nowAll upcoming shows are listed below.

The Pretty Flowers, formed in 2013 in Los Angeles by songwriter Noah Green, crystallized its core lineup of Green (vocals, guitar), Sam Tiger (bass, backing vocals), Jake Gideon (guitar, backing vocals) and Sean Johnson (drums, percussion) in 2018. The music on Never Felt Bitter is the result of playing together on hundreds of nights in innumerable bars and clubs across Southern California and beyond. Over the years The Pretty Flowers has honed a fearsome melding of pop melodicism and raw physicality. Their knack for crafting catchy anthems for outsiders and underdogs has made them one of the most respected underground bands in L.A.

The album was born against a backdrop of constant upheaval in the The Pretty Flowers’ hometown. From the election to the fires to the ICE raids, stability in Los Angeles and beyond had never seemed less certain. “There’s a sense of urgency, fear and confusion that comes across in these new songs,” says Johnson. “Like each song might be the last song we write, or this might be the last album. If anything, it’s the most present we’ve ever been.”

The Pretty Flowers’ power-pop foundation remains intact, but it’s reinforced by a heavier physicality and sharpened urgency, from the towering hooks of “Ocean Swimming” and the buzzsaw rush of “Never Felt Bitter (We Burn)” to the industrial pulse of “Ring True” and the ferocious momentum of “To Be So Cool.” Recorded at Adam Lasus’s Studio Red in North Hollywood and in a borrowed hilltop house overlooking the Pacific, the songs are built to match their wide-screen settings, with slow builds like “Thief of Time” cresting into tidal-wave choruses.

Lyrically, Never Felt Bitter moves through anxiety, regret, and resolve via vivid, fragmentary images that linger long after the final chord. While the band avoids direct emulation, echoes of The Replacements, Teenage Fanclub, and Superchunk drift through the record, folded into a sound that feels both familiar and newly forceful. Written and recorded by four musicians balancing day jobs and devotion, the album captures The Pretty Flowers operating as a true unit—finding release, connection, and conviction in loud, communal songs at a moment when the world feels increasingly unsteady.

The album’s sense of scale extends beyond the music itself. Its cover image comes from Control Zone, Bonnie Donahue and Warner Wada’s landmark photo essay documenting a family living in Belfast during The Troubles, discovered by Green while browsing a Boston bookshop. That tension between private endurance and wider social unrest came into sharp focus in April 2025, when the band debuted “Thief of Time” on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall during the 50501 protests. In front of tens of thousands, a song born from doubt transformed into an anthem of collective release, underscoring a record that feels deeply attuned to both personal reckoning and the wider moment it inhabits.

The Pretty Flowers Tour Dates:

March 27 – Pasadena, CA @ Healing Force Of The Universe (Record Release Show)
April 4 – San Diego, CA @ Kensington Club w/ Rookie Card and Billy Shaddox
April 9 – El Cerrito, CA @ Little Hill w/ The Letterwriters and DJ Cavity Rock
April 10 – Petaluma, CA @ Big Easy w/ Redwood Chrome
April 11 – Merced, CA @ The Partisan w/ Sloome and Bitter Loa
April 12 – San Francisco, CA @ The Knockout in San Francisco w/ The Goods and True Companion. Presented by KXSF
April 17 – Ojai, CA @ Deer Lodge in Ojai w/ The Spires

Djordje Miladinović

Hi, my name is Djordje and music is my passion. You'll probably find me at the gigs, in a local record store, distro or in front of my PC searching for some quality music to listen to. Do not hesitate to contact me. By becoming a Patron, you're keeping Thoughts Words Action alive. https://www.patreon.com/thoughtswordsaction

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